Of Reference, Of Departure, Of Origin

June 4 – August 9, 2015
Middle Gallery

Featuring Cynthia Gregory

Artist Statement:

“My studio work focuses on drawings and sculptures that explore qualities of history, memory, time, and containment. I work in a realistic style, and the media I use combine traditional (graphite, ink, gouache) and non-traditional materials (salvaged wood, insulation foam, cardboard). The subject matter I explore could best be summed up as “intellectual debris.” This includes the ephemeral yet tactile world of the personal everyday–a safety pin, a scrap of paper, a stone, blades of grass–as well as fragmented elements found in humanistic spaces of contemplation, knowledge, and creation, such as objects found on a poet’s desk, an artist’s work table, a naturalist’s bookshelf, or a scholar’s study. In the juxtaposing of these elements, I am interested in ideas related to the intersection of the poetic with the analytical through a vocabulary of ideas within self-contained installation environments that include shelves, boxes, drawers, and table formations. My aim is an exploration toward how these objects act as “containers” and enigmatic markers of individual (and collective) human experience and memory. My intent with the juxtaposing that happens within these containers is to build metaphoric associations and implied, partial narratives from a lost or unknowable whole for the viewer to slowly unfold in the present moment.”