Solo Exhibition at Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, LA
January 5 – February 25, 2007
Shifting patterns… Shifting thoughts… Shifting ideas…
A shift in focus, a shift in chroma, a shift in consideration, five different series come together in order to examine place, incidents of life, and the patterns that influence and infiltrate the subconscious. The work has a struggle between austerity (particularly with the limited pallet) and opulence, (the complexity of many of the patterns). There are optical plays and scale shifts that create drama (almost, melodrama but not quite) over the small incidents such as getting caught on a thorny branch (Snag) or stung by a mosquito (Sting).
The long thin intaglio prints read like specimen slides, as if patterns were under a microscope. They include everything from mathematical plotting of chaos theory to the repetition of natural forms. The images display a shift between natural forms and the abstraction of pattern.
The dress prints that make up the installation titled Shift are the most playful. This style of dress is actually called a shift. The patterns and imagery within them change because of the context of the form and the scale shift to a smaller than human size. This creates a form of signage on each one of the paper dresses. It references the body and causes the viewer to consider each pattern, each element as it now relates to the body and most specifically the female form.
Pattern permeates existence here in New Orleans. My interest in pattern is how it can confuse and distort almost creating an urban camouflage that blends and plays with the shadows of the subtropical foliage. The patterned works break down and rebuild.
All of this work was create within the last five months and required a considerable amount of support from many individuals. I would like to thank my students, colleagues and friends for their help and moral support with this exhibition. In particular I would like to thank: Sandy Chism, Jane Hipple, Maureen Iverson, Blake Sanders, Dylan Rogers, my all important and most valuable studio assistant Hannah Campbell, and of course Wayne Troyer.
– Teresa Cole
