By Tom Wachunas
EXHIBIT: POM POM NEBULAE MICRO RESIDENCY, By Dana
Lynn Harper / Main Hall Art Gallery / Kent State University at Stark, 6000
Frank Avenue NW, North Canton, Ohio / THROUGH MAY 5, 2017 – Gallery Talk and
Artist Reception on Thursday, May 4, 9:30 a.m. / Viewing hours: Monday – Friday
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“About my method of work: first it’s the
state of mind—Elation (joy).” -
Alexander Calder
“For me, an object is a living thing.” - Joan Miró
“…the works act as a portal to warm feelings and childhood fantasy, a
social catalyst for interaction and connection. Playful patterns, dancing
tinsel and unapologetic fluorescent colors are not only a testament to the
beauty of life, but to the ever-encompassing joy of living.” - Dana Lynn Harper
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Nebula,
noun; plural nebulae [neb-yuh-lee,
-lahy], nebulas.
In astronomy, a cloud of interstellar gas
and dust;(formerly) any celestial
object that appears nebulous, hazy, or fuzzy, and extended in a
telescope view.
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With this scintillating installation, Dana
Lynn Harper has constructed a multidimensional ode to joy.
The white gallery walls aren’t a final
destination. The physical space is not merely a container, or a formal resting
place for passively examining interesting objects. The artist’s work is not a
compendium of clues to solve any particular riddle or discern a single message.
Think of Harper as a playwright (play right?) who has provided tantalizing
props in a story which in fact calls on us, the viewers, to be co-authors.
Dozens of small (from Harper’s hand to yours,
so to speak) doodads and thingamabobs float in the air, hung on nearly
invisible monofilament lines strung from the ceiling. These dazzling
contrivances are made from diverse synthetic substances, a combination of
manipulated found materials and thrift store trinkets, and often have the look
of children’s playthings. But they just as frequently suggest cosmic and
organic forms, floral and animal, at once strange and familiar, mysterious and
whimsical: Astral clouds and psychedelic plankton confer with childhood juju.
Stepping into the gallery is to enter a
field, or better yet an atmosphere more vast than the physical dimensions of
the place would seem to allow. Here the mundane and the metaphysical converge
into an expanse of squiggling, feathery shapes and amorphous ornaments that seem
to pulse on their own with electrifying color. Try focusing your field of
vision so as to lose your sense of place, to not notice ceiling or floor or
corners. Then be transported into the purity of an implied infinity, where
unbound imagination can make unexpected discoveries and surprising connections.
Here, then, the gallery has been transformed
into an enchanting firmament of suggestibility. More than a conventional 3D
space to house static objects, the gallery air itself has become an animated,
experiential gestalt. Consider it an
open-ended invitation, literally and figuratively, for us to be active
performers in a spectacular theatre of possibilities.
This wholly immersive work of dangling
talismans is far greater than the sum of its fastidiously placed parts. RSVP. I
dare you not to smile.
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