C106
review
Kilkenny: Ursula von Rydingsvard at
Butler Gallery
Predominately
a sculptor in wood, Ursula von Rydingsvard hand-picks her
cedar trees in Canada, only choosing the ones with close rings,
indicating less moisture and a harder wood. These are transported
by the truckload to her studio in Brooklyn, where herself
and her team fashion her assembled 4" x 4" beams into monumental
sculptures. Each length of wood is 'plunge cut' using a circular
saw - the action, she says, is "like diving into water, if
you hesitate you'll never do it." This textural quality is
similar to that of fabulous cliffs, the ocean floor and the
visceral quality of the body, inside and out. Each are then
glued and clamped into place, mapping her identity - her history
- into a metaphorical, simple and beautiful 'psychological
landscape' (the title of the show).
Von Rydingsvard's
early childhood has obviously had a huge influence on her
art making. Born one of seven children to a Polish mother
and a Ukrainian father in a camp for slave labourers in Germany.
She was moved from camp to camp until the family were transported
as a unit to Plainville, Connecticut, in 1950. She was eight
years old. These are experiences which she says she can't
use conventional language to describe.
She often refers
to her peasant roots and she draws upon wood as a source of
shelter, heating, their reliance on tools. She remembers the
way the wood was stacked, in a haphazard way, but yet uniformly;
although looking like it may topple, it is rooted and gravity
holds it boldly.
Each of the four
rooms of the gallery are viewed in isolation, almost as if
we are blinkered by the three surrounding walls which frame
the room installation, and our peripheral vision is not disturbed.
Room one offers a small vessel-like bowl titled shifting
bowl, a symbol she has used throughout her career, expressing
what is most primitive. We can see within its womb-like interior,
which makes it seem vulnerable and empowers the viewer. This
is quite different from the end-room installation, bowl
with mounds, a monumental seven-foot-tall piece of even
and rough-hewn sides. The temptation here is to climb up on
it to view inside. Is it hollow or solid? Some people did
dare scramble over the nearby radiator and window sill. It
is hollow!
Ursula von
Rydingsvard: bowl with mounds, 2003, cedar,
graphite, 213 x 157 x 173 cm; courtesy the artist/
Galerie Lelong, New York
|
There is a lace
medallion, not lace as we know it but made from cedar
beams arranged and glued together with protrusions and cut-outs
of a delicate quality. These have been drawn upon with a chisel
and mallet, leaving an opening into which to slot the relief
wooden filigree lace. This piece evokes Victorian and ladylike
rigidity, upright as it leans against the gallery wall. Mainly
a two-dimensional object, its presence enters into the space
of being robust, due to the material, and that of being vulnerable,
as it slouches against the wall.
Ursula von
Rydingsvard: lace medallion, 2003, cedar, graphite,
chalk, 297 x 239 x 25 cm; courtesy the artist/ Galerie
Lelong, New York
|
The largest piece
is floating staircase, an eleven-step stairway leading
to nowhere with uneven levels of riser. The surface of it
has been somewhat defaced (drawn on), with graphite and whiting
scrawled and scratched onto and into the steps. The heaviness
of its weight-bearing nature appears airy and floating. Two
other rooms offer both wall and floor pieces in conversation
with each other. The floor piece untitled (footprint)
is reminiscent of two feet but also a child's bed. Both positive
and negative - the humps and hollows fit one another - but
not exactly. There are flange-like wall pieces; one, titled
geometryczna Reka, comprises an awkward carved-flange,
hand-like image severed into jigsaw pieces and put back into
place. This was very intriguing and disturbing, as it doesn't
exactly fit together.
Ursula von
Rydingsvard: floating staircase, 2003, installation
view of artist's studio, cedar, graphite, chalk, 259
x 259 x 259 cm; courtesy the artist/ Galerie Lelong,
New York
|
The overall success of this exhibition
lies with the site-specific nature of the work. The four intimate
spaces pay homage to their guests, some of whom were made
specifically to fit. The uneasy parallel between the robust
and the delicate is executed precisely. The predominance of
cedar awakens all of the senses, as it smells fresh, clean,
rough, fragile and strong.
Pauline O'Connell
is an artist living in Kilkenny.
Ursula von Rydingsvard:
a psychological landscape, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny,
October - November 2003
