melissa
manfull,
pattern
constraints

MELISSA MANFULL:
Pattern Constraints

September 18 – October 23, 2010

"Seeking inspiration from metaphysics and mysticism, Melissa Manfull creates hyper-detailed structures that straddle the worlds of reality and imagination. Working in a palette that ranges from the subdued and earthy to the mystical and otherworldly, Manfull inserts her stiff geometric shapes within pools of bleeding ink. Thus bringing to mind the idea of a building’s lost limb, detached and floating in space.

The artist’s interest in utopian societies and the ways in which architecture can reflect belief systems inspired these organic yet repetitive drawings. And in some ways, the resulting structures, created by fractal patterning, reflect the artist’s personal understanding of the intricate workings of the universe and the mind. Due to the obsessive nature of her process, Manfull has often viewed the meditative act of drawing as a way to approach her fear of vast, open ended space (the unknown). By creating her minute sculptural drawings, she gives this abyss a meaning and in essence, gains control. With her amorphous ink stains, she tries to mimic this emptiness rather than flight it."

melissa manfull,
pattern constraints

at taylor de cordoba,
culver city, los angeles

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"probable architecture" pt 1.

aka

"the new sculptural identity."

Mr. McCracken writes that his work draws on major architectural monuments of the past, ''but it has nothing to do with the past itself. It is a matter of finding those particular forms which seem expressive of a kind of very high level of human consciousness."

"What the work of art looks like isn't too important.
It has to look like something, if it has physical form.
No matter what form it may finally have, it must begin with an idea."


-Sol LeWitt, 1967

on anti-environments:

"What I mean is any given place has a preexisting character and identity and when you intervene with a form, that form necessarily changes the character and description of the space and place giving it a new sculptural identity. Often this new identity is considered to be anti-environmental because it alters and changes the existing condition, whether it is urban, architectural or a landscape. It changes how one relates to those spaces and places both perceptually and conceptually.



People become annoyed because they feel that they have a proprietary right over their environment. When it's altered by an interjection that is utilitarian, people don't mind. If you give them a nonworking fountain or a signboard or an advertisement, it is totally acceptable, but if it's a work of art, which is by definition useless, then they protest. I have never completely understood the logic of the protest. Calvinist logic of utilitarian purposefulness continues to be the subtext of most people's reluctance to deal with art in public places."




- Richard Serra




------------------------------

probable architecture pt 1.

aka

"the new sculptural identity."



images:
1. john mccracken, 1965
2. sol lewitt, 1996, (via 16miles!)
cinder blocks, and concrete
3. sterling ruby









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