Alex Sax "Various Amusements"
AES Gallery
This event has ended.
Inspired by Gertrude Jekyll’s book, Children and Gardens, first published in 1908, Alex expands on her historical fiction project Menagerie Recovery featuring mixed media cast paper and bronze animal sculptures.
Alex’s Menagerie Recovery project installations focus a connection to a specific historical figure, with animals representing aspects of that person’s accomplishments and significance. She is inspired by the tradition of the traveling menagerie – collections of exotic animals displayed throughout Europe and the United States in the 17th to early 20thcenturies. Her exhibitions present recently recovered, rare and endangered species. The animals are remnants of the bygone era that predated the modern zoological garden. They are small and intimate, based more on memory than on observation, and possess a haunting presence that is at times almost human.
Each stage in her sculptural process introduces a new material, and adds a richness of surface and character. She sews the animals in fabric then fills the forms with cotton. The stuffed fabric is pulled out from the cast paper, and the cast paper is used for a direct burnout to cast in bronze. As the materials changes, the previous form is lost. The animals become highly individualized through this transformative process.
Media
Schedule
from January 14, 2010 to February 19, 2010
Opening Reception on 2010-01-14 from 18:00 to 20:00