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Artist Profile

Amanda Martinez

Studio Resident (2011 - 2012)

Installation, Mixed Media, Painting, Sculpture
Statement of Work

In the past my work was driven by exploration of the common conception that art and design exist in separate vacuums, as well as the umbrella issues of taste and style. My current investigations include the devices of the theater, such as scrims, pulley systems and props. More simply, the distribution of weight through the elementary physics of rope, pulleys and sandbags create an activated tension, while lights and reflective surfaces seek to reference gimmicks of the stage. The incredibly one-sided nature of "ghost towns" built for old Westerns is a perfect illustration of the somewhat ironic place these recent works hold in the conversation of sculpture.

The classic "ghost towns" are paired-down veneers of the traditional sculptural object viewed in the round -- we all know them as painted facades backed by frail 2' x 4' armatures, designed to be viewed at a distance. They are an imitation giving us only the elements essential to evoke a specific impression, allowing your mind to fill in the rest.

The garishly synthetic yet self-referential palette and materials I employ are intended to service the forms in a way that allows the viewer to drift in and out of an awareness of them as both imitations and the objects they are imitating. Similarly, each object uses an action of "function" that has either already taken place, or is often being denied. The recent sculptures seek to exploit gaps through their hollow, prop-like materiality with a sense of anti-climax and subtle humor.

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