July 18 – August 22, 2008
Opening reception Friday July 18, 5-7 pm
"Approaching Distance," new metal sculptures by Paula Castillo
In this new body of work, sculptor, Paula Castillo, continues her exploration of forms comprised of thousands of discarded pieces and remainders from industrial metal fabrication processes. The resulting sculptures are both beautiful and unsettling; at times appearing to have arisen organically, other times otherworldly. Her work is concerned with bridging the new field of complexity science and art.
The artist writes: “While working on this show a recurring thought for me was how fragmentary and shifting knowledge is (despite our secret and untiring adherence to the certainty of people and places). Can we ever fully comprehend nature / society? Can we ever fully understand ourselves? For me, this body of work attempts to address these uneven conditions, hopefully transforming temporary intimacies into permanent marks: a witness to an unknown sense of belonging, that is not obligated to any specific location or person, but to a system of movement: Encounters with the wrong place expose the instability of the right place, reminding us that our very identities are shifting, unstable and contingent.” Born 1961, Paula Castillo, a native New Mexican, lives and works in Cordova, New Mexico, a tiny village in the mountains north of Santa Fe.
"Connect the Dots," new encaustics by Paula Roland
Paula Roland continues her long-standing exploration of encaustic painting. Encaustic is an ancient and durable painting medium composed of beeswax, pigment, and resin hardener. Heated until liquid, the artist paints this mixture, on various surfaces, fusing the surface with high temperature tools. Roland “marks” into the surface using a variety of techniques. In some works, heavy handmade paper is dipped repeatedly into a bath of white encaustic. This becomes a strong and rigid tablet for the images. Powdered graphite and alcohol are painted on the white surface. Drawing combines with painting as additional marks are made through incising the wax and using graphite drawing and image transfer.
The artist writes: “New Mexico, with its proximity to big science, art, and spirituality, is a nexus for the exploration of the unknown. Living here has heightened my interest in chaos and complexity theory. This culture of science resides alongside Native American spirituality, Hispanic Catholicism, Buddhism, and New Age beliefs, among others. Matter and spirit seem to merge in quantum physics and set the conditions for a poeticized science, an arena for ideas that emerge intuitively in my work.”
William Siegal Gallery
In May of 2007, the William Siegal Gallery opened its new 5,000 square foot exhibition space in Santa Fe’s newly revitalized Railyard District, which is rapidly becoming the central locus of Santa Fe’s contemporary art scene. Here, ancient textiles, objects and artifacts are displayed side by side with the works of outstanding contemporary artists, conveying timeless trans-cultural aesthetics.
540 South Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
505.820.3300
www.williamsiegal.com
