Artists’ Statements
Tori Cooper
Currently, my artwork focuses on the cultural, emotional and psychological connection to physical items and the process of repetitive action. We endlessly attach emotional significance to physical items. The item then comes to represent something greater and more powerful than a simple disposable object. The item becomes a tangible extension of emotions and memory. Thus, the mind and the spirit alike have great difficulty relinquishing these items of personal significance.
The series consists of interwoven reeds into 6″x6″ canvases. The movement of the reeds is seamless, having truly no end or beginning, but the direction of each reed changes. Some move rapidly in a whipping motion. While other pieces in the series are fluid and subtle and others cradling and protective. Each piece represents an emotional state of being present during the creation of the piece. Thus, the series seamlessly connects the artist, the viewer and the expressed emotional state of being in the piece.
Trevor Simpson
In this series I have set out to manipulate the plasticity of composition and form in unexpected arrangements. I allow for the viewer to be engaged in the compositional formulation of each piece. The viewer’s eye and imagination is left free to play within the negative and positive space of each piece. Thematically the series is a process-based exploration of form as well as a 2d interpretation of Tori Cooper’s 3d assemblages.
Ultimately, the pieces in the series create a collective lexicon of seemingly disparate arrangements. The series is a commentary on synchronicity and aligning what on the surface may appear to be fragmented.
