10.01.2009

2008 (October) Jodi Colella: Material Matters





MATERIAL MATTERS
artist statement by Jodi Colella


Contemporary society promotes superficiality with quick studies and the prevalence of multitasking. Technology is a constant disruption. The yearning to be connected actually distances us from private thought or contemplation. One antidote is to combine the process of making with the discovery of materials and technique.


Conducting a dialogue between concrete practices and thinking.


The loss of one's consciousness while engaged in a manual process promotes the opportunity for free thought and expression, The technique is simple, 'Plain Weave'. The materials are experimental. The practice is focused. The possibilities for expression are infinite.  The actions are important as a meditative exercise while the material accumulation of units embodies the amalgamation of meaning or message. The preoccupation of practice helps one to learn about themselves through the things that they make.


Materially, humans are skilled makers of place.


Peruvians work with the materials at hand, wool, natural dyes, traditional design, strap looms, time. With these choices they weave functional objects as expressions of tradition and identity.


Our choices are numerous including existing materials both found and reinvented. With close observation and experimentation we can discover unique qualities and characteristics of the obvious. Plastic bags, rags, newspaper, wire etc. transform into unexpected modes of expression simply by changing the context. Illustrations of warmth, fear, tentativeness or aggression are all a function of material choice and practice.


By merging habitual practice with the consideration of materials and concept we give voice to materials and process.  By conveying a complex set of ideas in the service of content, we merge the subject with the object and the tangible with the intangible.

























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