Essential Matter

The artists in this exhibition have strategically sourced and transformed the materials from which their work was made. In each case, the meaning of the artwork hinges on this process—none of them could be composed from wholly new materials. Their essential origins and fundamental characteristics are carried through into new creations. 

Issues these artworks and their makers grapple with are deeply human and universal—the ways that we relate to our built, designed, and inhabited environments; stewardship of the ecosystem; our relationships and communities; how we imagine, create and invent; and the nature of art itself. 

Sussel Gallery