Beatrice Pediconi “Subject to Change”

sepiaEYE

[Image: Beatrice Pediconi "Gaea #27" (detail) (2018) Polaroid, Unique, 20 x 24 in.]

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sepiaEYE presents Subject to Change, our second solo exhibition by Beatrice Pediconi. Pediconi is a multimedia artist whose work utilizes a hybridized technique to explore tendencies of flux, displacement and disorder in both the natural and human worlds. In Subject to Change, the series and video recalls her earlier work of experimentation with the properties of water, and are part homage, part disruption, to this ubiquitous molecule. Trussed by photography, video, and painting, her work examines the concept of equilibration applied to natural systems.

Pediconi entitled her work Gaea in reference to the Ancient Greek personification of Mother Earth. “Born of Chaos but as Chaos receded, Gaea came into being — complete in herself.” The transformational process that emerges from destruction into light is at the core of this series. After a trip to New Orleans, Pediconi was struck by the abuses of the land from water. “I saw how much in that land is felt the double aspect of water: life and death.”

The creation of Pediconi’s work stems from a desire to explore the interrelationship of adaptability, the intrinsic need for stability, and the desire for equilibrium in response to disruptive motions. Subject to Change explores those relationships. Each image, an aerial view of the contamination of water, seeks to evoke the beauty inherent in disorder, to portray the tension between chaos and equilibrium, the inevitable proliferation of life in its myriad forms. Pediconi’s work explores the dissolution of boundaries and the inevitable push towards renewal.

The Polaroid process is critical to the creation of this series: this rare, dynamic medium perfectly matches the semi-permeable interaction of the subject elements. Unlike discrete digital photography, the Polaroid process is that of an image being “painted” onto a canvas. The mediums are perfectly wed in that one augments the other’s intended effect of suspending time. As the painting dies, the photograph comes to life.

“My purpose is to touch human issues through approaching environmental themes. I believe that being human is entertaining impossible odds: despite the inevitability of decay, we cling to hope; despite the probability of disaster, we stay optimistic. GAEA, in this sense, is a juxtaposition of elements of stillness and change, of death and life, of regeneration and the inevitable proliferation of entropy in our evolving world. We cannot repeat our experiences or processes, just as two dissolved liquids can never be emulsified again.”