I just saw a great art show Triggered Momentum by Sabin Aell, a contemporary photographer, at Walker Gallery in Denver. The subject matter was quite unusual… BATH TOWELS! What also impressed me was her artist statement. Sabin had stepped outside and saw a “bizarrely shaped form: a towel”. The towel was frozen and had ice crystals on it; so she had a “you know it” moment … which is “triggered by objects you see”. Sabin immediately knew what was the subject matter for her next art series…. frozen towels.
The frozen towels took on a new form in her artwork. They danced and swayed in space, vaguely resembling many other things in the eyes of the viewer. This transformation of one odd object into something else was quite beautiful. It’s something I also try to do with my Arborglyphs monoprints. I see tree bark markings and they become something else. It’s what creativity is about… seeing and transforming. The objects you initially see become something else. Like magic!
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