This exhibition has been created as a means of communicating the idea that old things may be given new life, focusing on the history of a place or an object and how it is relevant to the future of the object. Sayaka Ganz uses old, discarded objects, and with them creates sculptures of life, similarly, Susie MacMurray creates new objects which are symbols of life in places that have a history. Both artists have concepts that relate to new life and the effect the past has on it.
Sayaka Ganz takes old, everyday items, such as pots, pans, spatulas etc., and creates sculptures in the form of animals, such as horses or birds, she gives new life to these objects which are past their use by date. This is how her work fits into the focus of rebirth.
Susie MacMurray creates sculptures/installations revolving around the historical or symbolic significance of a place or object. Her garment sculptures bring hundreds of mundane objects, that are individually unimportant, into life by turning them into wearable pieces.
Ganz and MacMurray both create sculptures and site specific installations. Ganz's works are influenced by the connection she has to the objects she uses, the belief that all things are beautiful and deserve a second life. Her subject matter is the objects she uses to create her works and the actual animal forms she creates out of them. MacMurray's pieces are influenced by the history of a specific place or object, her use of the sculpture and installation mediums lend tangible meaning to emotions.
Visual language is an important aspect of Ganz's sculptures; she communicates the meaning of her works by creating physical copies of animals out of the discarded objects she collects. Rather than just taking images of the objects being used again to show their new lives, Ganz creates representatives of animal forms to literally show her meaning of 'new life' and rebirth. Her idea also revolves around the existence of beauty in every small, insignificant aspect of life, and so her sculptures are very elegant in their construction, she uses complimentary colour schemes that match the entire sculpture and remain true to the animal she is representing.
MacMurray's visual language also relies on colour and form to help create the atmosphere of her installations. Just as Ganz does, MacMurray uses numbers of smaller items to create the whole, usually having some significance to the site, and she creates a recognizable form. MacMurray’s garment pieces give new life to these insignificant objects, as they are able to be worn, a new purpose entirely. At the same time, the relevance of the pieces to the place where they are installed brings back the history of the site, giving life to old memories of value.
Ganz works within a psychological context, playing on the emotions of humans and their attachments to objects of their everyday lives which are taken for granted. She illuminates the idea of these objects not being rendered useless and forgotten simply because a person no longer wishes to keep them, or replaces them with something new. Ganz believes that there is beauty in all aspects of life, and her works communicate this to the audience through the metal connections that a viewer makes between these different aspects of their own lives. Ganz is motivated by her intention to communicate this connection to people of all ages and backgrounds, as it is part of every life.
MacMurray works within a psychological/historical context, (drawing upon the actual physical history of the site, as opposed to Ganz’ work with the idea that the object had a past life). She works with the background of a place or object, and finds some kind of significant link between the two and their relation to humans at the time. Just as Ganz does, MacMurray communicates the importance of the past to humans; by working with a specific site she is highlighting that particular history and her works illustrate what part of the history she is referring too and why it is important.
The Exhibition
Rebirth, that is the title given to this exhibition, it is a word that can be interpreted in many different ways; physically, emotionally, spiritually, this exhibition takes a look into how 'Rebirth' is the emergence of life from things that belong to the past.The two artists represented in this exhibition, Sayaka Ganz and Suzie MacMurray, have explored this concept of the importance of the past and the importance of the present, and the way this can be communicated through physical objects.
Life Waiting To Happen
At first glance the similarities between artists Susie MacMurray and Sayaka Ganz may seem few and far between.MacMurray creates dresses an other shapes of old random amounts of an object, such as feathers. She communicates the historical significance of the place she is creating her work for, in her attempts to "gain insight into the relationship between place and people."Ganz works with old objects, things that have been used and discarded, and puts them together in new forms to create images that depict life. Ganz communicates the concept of every object having its own importance and deserving of a second chance of life, her objective is for each object to "transcend its origin."Both artists communicate the importance of the past, in the form of being significant, for MacMurray, and for Ganz, objects shouldn't be forgotten as part of the past.
Icon 2002
Sayaka Ganz
Nova, two piece installation, reclaimed plastic objects,
Emergence, 2008, Two piece installation: Night, plastic objects, 72” x 50” x 17”, Wind, plastic objects, 63” x 78” x 26”
Site
The exhibition will be held in a venue such as this, the Kyoto Botanical Garden, a natural environment, possibly with some sort of historical significance. The atomosphere created by an outside and yet protected environment such as this ensures that the works of both artists can be merged together to communicate the focus of new life. As the environment is ever changing, and is a living environment, it reintegrates the audience into the world of life that these artists have tried to capture in their works.
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