FLUX : Vita Mutata

CURATOR: NATSUKI TAKAUJI

• Virtual Exhibition: November 15 – January 30, 2021
• Virtual Reception: Wednesday December 2, 2020 at 6:00 PM

Description: Curator Natsuki Takauji proposes that we explore “How the global pandemic is changing our lives.” “FLUX : Vita Mutata” aims to explore the ways in which artists work and question old approaches as they develop new ones. The exhibition is presented online due to conditions brought on by COVID-19, which has put in-person exhibitions temporarily on hold.

“FLUX : Vita Mutata” aims to uncover the processes that artists may have newly invented and/or rediscovered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists in this exhibition display works made before the pandemic period as well as works made during the pandemic period. The exhibition focuses on presenting the artists’ transition from pre-pandemic through the lockdown and beyond.

The organization of this exhibition unfolds alphabetically by the name of the artists selected. Each artist section is structured as follows: name of the artist, the website of the artist, two (2) artworks created by the artist before the pandemic, two (2) artworks created during the pandemic, and the artist's statement report the experience each of them has had in their own narrative about how the pandemic has influenced their life, artwork, and process.

About the Curator: Natsuki Takauji is a Japanese artist who has been living and working in New York City for a decade and is an instructor of Metal Sculpture at The Art Students League of New York since 2017. She is Director of Metal Sculptures at Sculptors Alliance. She has exhibited work internationally, including Berkeley College Gallery, Manhattan, NY; Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; and Palazzo Mora (European Cultural Centre) at the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, to name a few. Her ongoing engagement and success in public sculpture installations include Riverside Park, Manhattan, NY, Van Cortlandt Park, The Bronx, NY, La Guardia Airport, Queens, NY and Rye Town Park, Rye, NY. Natsuki Takauji is a rising young artist who explores the professed spirituality, ethics, perception, and belief system in our society through her work. She was recently interviewed by Peggy Roalf, Editor in Chief of Dart: Design Arts Daily.

Selected Artists:

Amalia Galdona-Broche

Anne Muntges

Bob Clyatt

Carole Loeffler

Christopher Skura

Dai Ban

Geoffrey Owen Miller

Haksul Lee

Judith Roston-Freilich

Judy Glasser

Kenichi Nakajima

Lesley Bodzy

Mark Eisendrath 

Michelangelo Arteaga 

Monika Majer

Rich Tomasello

Sara Knight

Amalia Galdona-Broche

https://www.amaliagaldonabroche.com/

Before



During



“My work materializes a psychological landscape of nostalgia and remembrance. It creates alternative mythologies through fibers, knots and horns to satisfy a need to belong and to address the loss created by displacement. The work completed during the pandemic became my companions, votive figures holding and releasing the discomfort, fear and uncertainty of the times, it wears accumulation and growth on its skin, in the form of weavings and knots that record the problems and concerns of the day in an abstracted manner. I lost access to my studio during the pandemic, so, like most of us, I had to transform my creative practice to better suit working in a domestic space. Although this is an ongoing process, it has opened up installation and display possibilities, and has given me an opportunity to investigate how we view or consume art. I am currently working on videos that animate my sculpture work, as well as smaller scale weavings, paired with writing that will ultimately exist in a book that can be held and provide a more intimate experience with my work.“—Amalia Galdona Broche.

Anne Muntges

http://www.annemuntges.com

Before

During

“Nature is beginning to only exist in curated spaces like our homes as we have fewer and fewer access points to nature in urban spaces. The pandemic has amplified this exponentially. Lock downs and fear of exposure limit movements in the wider world, forcing one to recreate the environment missed for ourselves.  Pot by pot on shelves in our homes the interior becomes a new natural experience.

This work, made during the pandemic, glorifies the artifice of that space and the control we seek to assert over it. Our homes are becoming the only spaces in which we see our natural landscape anymore. The pandemic has laid bare the limitations we have to participate in the world and be enriched in the wondrous landscapes that surround us.

This shift in time has allowed me to envelop more deeply in my obsessive drawing practice; works are produced over longer periods of time, based on new readings and hobbies, and filled with striking color and pattern. The lines between drawing, sculpture, and the tangible world more blurred with every additional plant made.”—Anne Muntges

Bob Clyatt

http://www.clyattsculpture.com

Before

During

“This has been a crazy time for all of us but I am convinced it will turn out to have been a deeply creative time for many artists, and that amazing art is going to come out of 2020.  My own year has vacillated between intense productivity and a feeling of trying to drag myself through water, questioning pretty much everything I’m doing– the precursor to real growth I suspect, even if it looks like decline some days.  During the lockdown  I have re-affirmed my commitment to the human head as a subject, working on ways to reimagine and recontextualize the realistic human bust sculpture as  contemporary art.

At first, in March and April, the only difference in my practice was that I had to drop my collaborations because we just couldn’t reasonably be engaging with each other.  Also, masks started to find their way onto my sculpted faces. Then I went through a series of five self-portraits, first because I had time and wanted to create some really carefully modeled human faces and secondly because sculpting my emotional state, each month for five months, was a sort of therapy to take all my frustration and anger and put it into the piece as a way of processing it and being able to get some needed perspective and distance.  In the final piece of that series I found some sort of qualified resolution and calm, at which point I was able to move on from that series.  

For the past few months I have been intensively working on a new studio space in a beautiful natural setting, close to my home, where I can retreat and connect more deeply to the ideas and experiences that will feed my life, and I hope my next body of work.”—Bob Clyatt

Carole Loeffler

http://caroleloeffler.com/

Before

During



“I scour the shelves, bins, and racks at thrift stores for vintage photos, suitcases, quilts, greeting cards, pillowcases, clothing, and ephemera from everyday life. Of particular excitement and interest to me is discovering evidence from the previous owner…handwriting on the back of a photograph or greeting card, stitches in a quilt or on a handmade garment. I feel a strong connection to an anonymous person from an unknown time and place. The power of mark-making and stitches bind us together in humanity and suggest imagined narratives and a renewed purpose. Domestic textiles become imbued with the spirit of my imagined foremothers - emblazoned with positive affirmations – as if the spirit of the maker comes to life and offers solace and support. I connect with the women contained in vintage photographs and contemplate how best to share their stories. Greeting cards offer examples of long-ago friendships and connection and they become pattern, color, and material for collages. Suitcases display stickers of the places they’ve been and serve as functional storage, installation props and literal reminders of the baggage we carry. I am the caretaker of these thrifted and found objects and the messenger from which their stories flow.  The pandemic has led me to work slower and be more reflective. It has helped me think about the WHY of art-making and how to use my voice to help others. I aim for my work to be of service to the viewer and offer comfort and solace. The main shift in my artistic approach is the re-thinking of the text included in my work - I want to be sure not to perpetuate patriarchal ideals like toxic positivity. “—Carole Loeffler

Christopher Skura

https://www.christopherskura.com/

Before

During

“Working in my upstate New York studio during the 2020 Covid pandemic has influenced my work by making my approach and working method more direct and immediate. Time seems more valuable. I have begun a routine of drawing everyday and posting an image a day on Instagram. Out of these small drawings have come many sculptural ideas. Drawing quickly with Sharpies my natural, hardwired shapes have become more pronounced. All of my sculptures and paintings come out of extensive sketching and drawing. Very rarely do I recreate exact drawings as sculpture but I use them as a springboard to begin experimenting. Most of these drawings are small and done very quickly. By hesitating less, I have focused on completing an artwork in one or two sessions as opposed to laboring over it. The surfaces on the new sculptural works have become more painterly and less concerned with refinement and I feel this has created a warmer, more human and satisfyingly active surface.

My work has always been about the human body and the effect that time has on it physically and the new surfaces reflect that. Each sculpture is a small psychological portrait of something struggling to survive. My most recent artwork during Covid-19, references architecture, structural systems, emergence theory and the human form. Improvisation and freehand drawing are emphasized. Some of my forms are organic and plant-like but others suggest the machinery of a man-made environment. This duality reflects my experiences growing up in the lush Florida landscape and my current life living and working in Manhattan.

I hope that, moving forward, these new hardships will affect my work in a positive way.”—Christopher Skura

Dai Ban

http://www.daibanstudio.com

Before

During



“Covid-19 pandemic definitely influenced my life by limiting freedoms of all kinds. Freedom of socializing, traveling, enjoying cultural entertainments, going to music concerts, seeing dances, dancing, touching someone else besides me and so on. But Since it’s caused by the virus from the nature created, I accept that we have to deal with this by following science. What would be the other choice I would make, getting sick or making other people sick and possibly killed. I don’t want to be a murder of anybody. As a life of an artist, I spend much time alone in the studio, isolated from other people (this could be just my case) so there has not been much difference in how my day is. But I realized that there have been some significant changes in forms since. There are more curves, arcs and somewhat representational forms sometimes. I work hard not to put intentional thoughts when I work on sculptures. When the form emerges from my subconscious reservoir, I just let it come out. This was surprising for me to see different lines and representational shapes. These forms must be from craving for the emotions, natures and human bodies otherwise contacts with other living. Straight lines evoke a conceptual world. The curves evoke a world of emotions, feelings, minds.

My creative process has not changed much. I still use simple tools to make maquettes without too much time or thoughts in. Nothingness in my head is better to see myself. Then I enlarge them and start conversations with them. I am still liberating myself through art in this pandemic, I feel lucky to be an artist.”—Dai Ban

Geoffrey Owen Miller

http://www.geoffreyowenmiller.com/

Before



During



“I have lost my home to a forest fire and brother to suicide. The COVID 19 pandemic caused me to lose my job and studio, and fear for my city, but otherwise, for me it has been more of a spectacle of human fallibility than anything else. I continue to investigate the world through image and object, trial and error, as I’ve done since I was a child. My work has become smaller, and less ambitious with scale, and instead is more concerned with time, and the balance of life itself. I am building small ecosystems using light, water, glass, rock, dirt, foam, plants, snails, crustaceans, and sometimes fish. It connects me to the natural world more directly than the sculptures of plants and animals I was making before the pandemic did. Yet, maybe more importantly, they are each a small protected world of beauty and possibility. I imagine Joseph Cornell having found similar comfort in his boxes.”—Geoffrey Miller

Haksul Lee

https://www.instagram.com/art74leehaksul/

Before

During

“The pandemic has been causing a lot of limitations to my art making, but I embrace the limitations because I believe limitations oftentimes make my decision making clearer and lead me into a new idea. In March and April, I was deprived of my access to my studio with a welder and other equipment. Before the pandemic, my works involved detailed planning and metal forming and welding. The process was slow and meticulous. 

When I couldn’t go to my studio, I started using a CAD program called Rhino and making my sculptures virtually. Making a sculpture virtually has been quite an experience because I could make one faster, my decision making was more flexible (I could change things in any moment and to any degree), and I was not bound by physical conditions like the size and weight. The software also urged me to think more mathematically and analytically, enabling me to understand the forms I have been making in a different perspective.

However, I couldn't only stay in a virtual world. I tried to find a medium that I could get and handle easily with basic tools at home. Paper boxes and cardboard drew my attention. They were free and readily available materials. Thanks to Rhino, I knew I could make fully 3 dimensional works by constructing planes out of cardboard and thick paper. Between Rhino and paper, I could continue my creative journey in the pandemic in a whole new intellectual dynamic. I am glad that I could keep creating even without access to my studio, and I am more excited to see how this newly found method and material will influence my work in the long run.”—Haksul Lee

Judith Roston-Freilich

https://judithrostonfreilich.com

Before



During



“Each of my drawings leads continuously into the next one. It reflects the unique journey inside each of us and is represented by intuitive organisms that have unique characteristics collected from life’s experiences. These organisms reveal both devastating, fierce, uncontrolled energy and overwhelming swells of calm that are inside each of us. In some pieces, the process seems unfinished, with traces of past journeys and pathways for future exploration. When visiting the acidic, boiling springs at Yellowstone, I was overwhelmed realizing that all living things on earth, including humans, share elements of life. The experience heightened my sense of our relationship, inside ourselves, to each other and to all life on our planet. A digital microscope enabled a whole world of imaginary organisms to flourish in my mind. A world of life forms that multiply from microscopic particles, morphs into new worlds and decay. As COVID-19 became part of our lives, this novel virus led me to a place I’ve never been before. The imaginary organisms in my mind took over my work as I spent more time alone. Using pristine paper no longer made sense in the new place I found myself, but by leaving the paper outside for a month, it became a diary of storms and of the progression of this virus. Weathering the paper, which comes from being spontaneous in my work, enables the paper and my images to totally mesh. Working on ravaged paper eventually became unbearable, so I allowed some silver linings to appear. Together, the paper and the silver linings remind me that all living things, including this deadly virus, share the same ecosystem. As we experience its beauty and its devastation during this time, I’m reminded of how precious life is— protecting it is vital.”—Judith Roston-Freilich

Judy Glasser

https://www.judyglasser.com/

Before



During



“As with many others, the first month of the pandemic was one of fear of the unknown and loss of usual routines. My teaching venue was closed and the classes that I taught suspended; all in-person cultural, artistic and social activities were canceled. Not being able to work or socialize, nor to be stimulated and enriched by galleries, performances and concerts, was disheartening. Not knowing how long the crisis would last left my normal world on hold.

New routines emerged after I decided to stay full-time at my weekend home, in a semi-rural area of Long Island. This is where my studio is located. Before the pandemic, I was out here only on the weekends, making sculptures during those 2 days. Now that I am in the studio full time, I am able to work continually without needing to jumpstart the creative juices after a week away. I have time to experiment and play.

What has evolved during this very productive time is a new vocabulary of forms and colors. An unexpected motivator and influence for this distinctive change turned out to be the many birds around our house. With uninterrupted time now available, sitting and watching them has become a daily routine. I am enchanted by their swooping through the air with wings extended, their lightness and bright colors. This connection to my forms mirrors the energy and grace of these agile aviators. My new work is lighter, brighter, and extends outward.

Another inspiration and motivator is connecting with other artists and galleries via Zoom and social media, which has given me a renewed sense of community. I am encouraged by the creative ways we are developing to exhibit and promote our work. A big step for me was to post my work online, mostly on Instagram and Facebook. The positive response to my work propels me forward.”—Judy Glasser

Kenichi Nakajima

https://www.kenichinakajima.com/

Before

During

Vessels, 2020. Clay and water. Dimensions variable

“After the pandemic, I need to work full time as a teacher in a children’s daycare. So it's difficult to find the time for making my work but now I'm seeing my art from a different perspective. For example, I make my work in the subway when I go to the job. I realized that I have to make my art as I like. It is the most important thing for me. I need to focus on what I want to do, do I love it? And COVID-19 pandemic was an opportunity to take a look at life again for me. And many human shameful problems were highlighted by the pandemic and the most precious things for me were also highlighted at the same time. Principles or ideologies are not important to me. I always want just the truth. Dandelions are living life here or there and it’s the same with me or you. Living life doesn’t need any extra decorations. After the pandemic, my work expresses the truth clearer than before. My sincere attitude towards art did not change but my way to grasp the truth became more natural. I am trying to sublimate the truth towards the arts.”—Kenichi Nakajima

Lesley Bodzy

https://lesleybodzy.com/

Before





During



“Since the onset of COVID-19, I have been exploring the formless and surreal through the themes of wrapping and unveiling, hiding and revealing, absence and presence. With each piece, I seek to create a unique dialogue with the viewer by juxtaposing unusual materials.

Prior to the Pandemic, I was creating sculpture using a 3D printer and a laser cutter. Due to the Pandemic I lost my access to the maker’s space I was using and have been in lockdown in my home and studio. As a result of this isolation, I've been using materials that I have on hand, as well as finding ways to utilize those that arrive as packing supplies in delivery boxes. I have also started pouring acrylic paint onto plastic sheeting and using it to wrap found objects as well as to create wall drapes and veils. These wrapped and veiled objects reflect my mood of uncertainty and my desire to withdraw at times.

These new processes have forced me to embrace a more spontaneous process than I was using before. This has been extremely gratifying. Before, I planned and relied on preliminary studies. Now, I'm less concerned with geometric uniformity, and perfection.

This freedom and release from prior constraints has changed the whole experience of making art for me and has been a balm for my mind and soul in this incredibly challenging time.”—Lesley Bodzy

Mark Eisendrath

http://www.markeisendrath.com/

Before

During

“I began to notice that during the pandemic outbreak, I found myself dealing with a sense of anger at the events causing a shutdown for everyone. This feeling always leads me to a sense of quiet: a feeling that I am zoning in on what is bothering me and this leads me to process by seeing what is changed, particularly, what is significant for me as an artist and as a human.

Since the start of the CoVid-19 pandemic, I've noticed less hustle and bustle outside of my studio. The calmness and subdued nature of this shutdown has moved me toward two polarizations: anger and calmness, rage and serenity. Prior to the pandemic, my work was always on the larger side. My scale was generally wider sculptures, taller sculptures, as my hands are large and the ideas I am working with seem grandiose in scale. As the world began to feel smaller and more precious, my work necessarily changed. I saw an opportunity for the works I was creating to also become smaller in scale, in a smaller and more constricted manner. This smaller scale seems to mirror our current social reality of smaller social circles, less on the schedule, and taking account of what is more precious to us as people. I've noticed that in this environment, my mind begins to focus sharply.  My works tighten up and become more precise and less sweeping in scale. To my great surprise, my materials and process - as well as my mind and hands - are quite comfortable working within these tighter parameters.” —Mark Eisendrath

Michelangelo Arteaga 

http://www.arteagasculpture.com/

Before

During



“I was born in southern Spain. My father is a stonemason who taught me the ancient techniques of stone carving. I was living during the aftermath of the fascist dictatorship of Franco. In the recovered democracy, I developed an unwavering commitment to social justice and humanism. I worked as a town planner, focusing my attention on developing a better welfare state.

My abstract sculptures have a unique aesthetic and are loaded with a poignant sense of cultural history. Meticulously hand-made from a diverse range of materials, most often marble and polyester resin, I use traditional techniques as a clear testimony of my deep respect for skilled artisanship and materials. This approach to materials along with inherent sensibility results in profoundly considered works, which touch on issues of human identity and politics with intriguingly subtle metaphors.

With the lockdown, my everyday life was stopped and beloved friends and family were in danger. It was time to be focused on what is essential in life.

I had no access to my workshop or materials, thus, I developed pieces with what I was able to find (Art Povera). Also, It gives me time to read and think about future sculptures. I developed a strategy to create sculptures based on four pillars: Visual approach, argument, symbolism and technique.

My work has been developed to focus on the meaning of life (‘Spiral of life’) and social interactions (‘Space to Embrace’). The sculptures developed in the lockdown reflect my emotions (‘Art will provide nourishment to our bruised souls’) and new future hope (‘To build on the ruins, you must remove the rubble first’).

I have decided to reduce the time working at the university and trying to work full time as a sculptor.”—Michelangelo Arteaga 

Monika Majer

https://monikamajer.de

Before



During



“When I was 19, I fell in love with stone – and it still is my great love and favorite material for sculpting. Working with stone makes me still and feeling connected. The ancient story of the material, its essence and bearing power are supporting me to dive into the flow of the sculpting process. I work without a design and allow myself to be guided intuitively by the stone and many years of training in form. The resulting sculptures are tender, playful and charming forms. They invite the observer to experience sensibility, strength, movement, playfulness, intensity... 

Being close to the material always was natural for me, but the lack of human closeness and the longing for connection during the pandemic challenged me to be much more aware of this aspect. I recognized its relevance as a core element for my sculptures and their perception, and so I started to communicate about my questions and insights through social media and meetings in person later on. To experience the inspiring power of the dialogues and to witness the joy of perception encourages me to deepen the aspect of connection and intensify my communication further on. 

So it's more my artistic approach, my attitude of communication and my look ahead that changed with the pandemic than my sculptures themselves. As I witnessed that the sculptures are offering eclectic experiences with their approachability, I currently find myself on the point to scale them up to provide the opportunity to lean against and hug…” —Monika Majer

Rich Tomasello

http://richtomasello.com/

Before

During

“Before the pandemic my work focused on the loss of innocence in children today.  As an artist, educator, and father I’ve experienced firsthand the fear and anxiety felt by kids in the United States.  The frequency of mass shootings in public places, including schools, and the lockdown drills practiced daily by American school children have become almost normalized. 

The pandemic has created an isolation and introspection that I've never felt before.  I wasn’t a person that normally discussed anxiety, but at the beginning of the pandemic I was obsessively taking my temperature and having a really difficult time coping with all of the information coming our way through news media and social media outlets.  Many of my normal day to day human interactions have been stifled or eliminated altogether.

When I was able to balance day to day life and adjust to the new normal of quarantine I began creating work in direct response to the pandemic, this is represented by the pieces Permanently Closed, Terror Dome, and Bury The Past.  These sculptures reference the struggles of living in our current world:  kids not being able to play with other children, families not gathering, businesses and public spaces shuttered, playgrounds and basketball courts closed. 

I think the biggest change in my artistic approach is that I'm more focused to push myself to expand on the concepts and materials I explore.  I'm much more cognizant of how precious time really is.”—Rich Tomasello

Sara Knight

https://www.sarahknightart.net/

Before

During

“I was finishing my MFA at Washington University in Saint Louis when the U.S. went under lockdown. My fractured and hastily repaired art practice became a way to process and understand global chaos, express my fears, and mourn the physical loss of community to isolation. My work records the artist’s experience of witnessing the world flux wildly from the inside. I now make sculptures and installations that can serve as markers or “cairns” for our collective successes, struggles, and emerging voices. 

Before the pandemic, my work leaned heavily on philosophical understandings of landscape, mythology, queerness, and gender identity. The pandemic’s sudden threat to both global and community safety called for the work to be more present, blunt, and fluidly visceral. My current sculptures are responses to the pandemic's ability to change our perception of time, space, and ourselves. My work has also become a way for them to grieve the sudden invisibility, and outright hostility towards, the communities they relied on for solidarity and inspiration. The work itself is larger, clumsier, and more colorful to express my identities and the world I feel are both targeted and hidden in this new era. 

While My creative process is still one of material experimentation, I can’t use ceramic facilities to make work. I now work with a host of unorthodox materials, including unfired clay, plaster, found stone, cement, and remnants of previous fired ceramics. Like today’s global struggles, Knight’s art needs to embrace entropy, failure, and reimagining of broken fragments. Each piece is a moment of reconnection, disconnection, or transmutation between the poles of my inner and outer worlds.” —Sara Knight

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For inquires regarding acquisitions of artwork on this exhibition please contact: exhibitions@sculptorsalliance.org