photo sculpture research

Letha Wilson

Letha Wilson’s practice is rooted in material experimentation. She is known for her synthesis of mediums, expanding the visual and physical dimensions of photography and sculpture. By combining industrial materials such as Corten steel, aluminum, and vinyl with photography, Wilson has developed unique fabrication processes. She prints images depicting the beauty of natural landscapes onto her sculptures, embeds them in the surface of her works, and manipulates them in various unexpected compostions. The natural world is both the subject and content of her work; a metaphor for the role of the landscape in myths of renewal, and possibility. 

Wilson’s work has been featured in recent solo exhibitions at GRIMM, Amsterdam and New York, NY; Anderson Ranch, Aspen, CO; the Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, Portland, OR; the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, and Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris.

Letha Wilson is a mixed media artist who was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, raised in Colorado, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her outdoor excursions amongst the Rocky Mountains have placed the natural world and its photographic image at the root of her artistic interests. She earned her BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Hunter College in New York City, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009.

Image Analysis

LethaWilson_AIR_05

I have selected this image to analyse as I think that one of the most prominent aspects of this piece of works is the variety of texture. This stands out as it means that they the colours in the piece become more prominent, the cardboard looking background really contrast with the ripped up looking purple textures within the piece. This means that the piece is more eye-catching and aesthetic, with the blues, greens and purples clear in this image it means that there is a large variety of cool tones, with the background being more of a yellow brown, this means that the colours are pushed forward in the piece. Additionally, I think that the layout of the structure is important is note, as the randomness of the rips means that the piece is of better quality. The shapes in this piece mean that a landscape is formed, with the foreground making out to form a river, the middle creating the textures of the mountain, and the background (where the white area is in the top left) creating the sky.

Noemie Goudal

Noémie Goudal has long been drawn to the meeting point of nature and culture, or as she puts it, the organic as “invaded” by the man-made. Goudal also feels a strong attraction to the theatre, and combines the two leanings in the series Les Amants (the Lovers), in which Cascade and Promenade play a part. However, the two works address the issues in different ways: the one is a photograph of a theatrical installation, its school-play hokeyness meant to underline its absurdity; the other is a staging where a photograph plays the main role. On both stages, real nature is relegated to best-supporting actress.

Goudal’s studio is located away from the bustle of the main boulevard in a quiet alleyway. It is early April, the sky is blue but the wind is chilly, so it is a delight to be enveloped by the heat of a fire stove upon entering the studio. Goudal’s practice is predominantly rooted in the outdoors, but the artist welcomes me into a space resembling a country house living room, where we sit at a large wooden table for coffee. Next door, a second luminous room opens up. With a glass roof and bright white walls it has the appearance of a laboratory and it is this workroom that houses the evidence of Goudal’s creative practice.

What I like about her work: I think that my favourite aspect pf her work is the wide variety of her projects, as she creates many different types of physical structures, such as creating sculptures and I could recreate some aspects of her work by ripping up pieces of paper and merging them together. Furthermore, I think that these pieces of work are very creative and this provides me with lots of inspiration for my future sculptures. From looking at her work if I were to copy I would copy the huge contrast in colours she has in her works, along with the many different environments she recreates with her work, as this means its filled with diversity.

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