Christina Watka “The Lightness of Joy”

The West 10th Street Window

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Time Equities Inc. Art-in-Buildings presents the newest exhibition at the West 10th Window: Christina Watka, The Lightness of Joy.

Christina Watka’s installation is a celebration of the unusual contradictions of mica, a relatively new material for the artist. Watka employs mica in various ways, including suspending individual elements (as in the West 10th Window) or weaving pieces into a collective form that becomes more structural than delicate. The material is a study in opposites: mica is paper-thin and nearly weightless, yet sturdy and sculptural. Transparent yet colorful, fluttering yet stagnate. Watka’s installation is still in the contained space of the West 10th Window, but it seemingly begs for a gust of air to set it in motion. Working with this material allows the artist to explore the plays in light, shadow, color, and line as the quality of light in the window changes throughout the day. The Lightness of Joy is a beautiful exploration of all these properties and will be a welcome and ever-changing addition to the block as the city transitions from winter to spring.

Christina Watka is a site-specific, large-scale installation artist who currently lives and works in New York. She received her BFA in Studio Art in 2008 from The New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University. Watka’s installations reference naturally-occurring patterns found in swarms, flocks, cells, constellations, and topographical maps. Her work often emphasizes a specific space’s natural light and atmosphere by using low-relief sculptural undulation to encourage a visual conversation between density, mass, lightness, and air.