MOVE OVER, MICHELANGELO

By [email protected] | on May 25, 2023

Like trained caterpillars, columns of colorful paper crawl a white wall while a delicate lacy pattern spirals down a vortex.

In Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens’ last show of the season, wood and paper offer fresh interpretations on a historically male-dominated art form.

By the time photos and data first transmitted a message, wood and paper had been at it for a while. Not surprisingly, they are the means and methods chosen by four female sculptors highlighted in "SculptHER." The discreet exhibition features 16 works of various sizes, but it is the limitless possibilities of the chosen materials that surprise the most.

It's all in the details for Julia Ibbini, a visual artist based in the United Arab Emirates who combines traditional crafts, computational design, mathematics, and algorithms to produce complex paper sculptures that are intricate beyond belief. The juxtaposition of decorative loops, vine-like shapes and other natural motifs with mind-boggling geometric precision makes "Symbio Vessel 19.152.16" stand out.

From the side, it's a miniature ultra modern stadium with infinite rows of seats layered on top of another one. Each layer is meticulously sketched, laser cut and hand assembled. From above, beyond the black-and-white edge, we watch a web of organic columns disappear into the abyss. As it spirals toward the black hole, the exquisite embroidery featuring tiny flowers and leaves grows smaller and darker. Inspired by it, we consider a similar dive into our cave of secrets and dark thoughts, but taking the plunge calls for vulnerability — a fragile parachute we don't fully trust.

TOP: Nicole Pietrantoni, "Aurora III." • ABOVE: Miriam Londoño, "Dialog I." COURTESY PHOTOS

Ibbini's pieces mirror ballet. They are labor intensive and demand big time commitment, but the result is graceful and effortless. She doesn't burden the viewers with details of the long, multistep process that goes into her work but spares them, so they may enjoy her creation.

"I hope they perhaps have a sense of wonder of what can be achieved when diverse and multiple disciplines are combined," Ibbini said.

That sense of wonder also drives Nicole Pietrantoni's vision.

The accordion-like composition and scale of warm tones echoing the light at dawn makes "Aurora V" fun and inviting. Strips of folded paper move along the wall in unassuming fashion in this playful installation meant as a rest stop from an overly stimulating world. A pink glow teases from under the incidental arches. Upon close inspection, only a few colors appear at play. As we step back, the spectrum expands to include hues undetectable earlier.

Julia Ibbini, "Symbio Vessel" from top COURTESY PHOTO

Images of weeds and flowers often brand Pietrantoni's pieces. They emerge softly, not sharpened, as if not to overwhelm the overall composition or draw attention to any specific frame. That flow and levity are as important as the gaps separating the columns of paper, which in "Aurora III" are soaked in deeper, richer tones. These deserts are reminders that the notion of a whole picture is a fallacy.

"They represent the impossibility of taking it all in," said Pietrantoni, who is currently based in Prague. She describes this series as "a meditation on color, light, and the expansive possibilities of the book form."

Incidentally, the ongoing exhibition running through June expands the possibilities for female sculptors like herself.

"There's a rich but often untold and underrecognized story of amazing women creating sculptural works too," she said. "I’m glad to be part of this lineage."

"Música" (2020) by Miriam Londoño with "Expose Exposed 211006," (2021) by Cha Jong Rye in the background. GRETEL SARMIENTO / FLORIDA WEEKLY

In the absence of speech, we tend to think volumes or so it seems in a clever text installation consisting of two anonymous busts made up of uppercase letters. The placement of the block letters, seemingly random at first, manages to birth familiar words — LOVE…TIME… AGAIN —but never forms a complete cohesive sentence.

"Dialog 1" reflects on the constant flow of communication between people, which Miriam Londoño finds ranges from unstructured and repetitive to creative. She doesn't ask the viewer to play interpreter in this puzzling exchange belonging to her "Monologues" series. Incoherence can be a form of mercy. Some things are better left unsaid.

"Loose letters feature as a latent possibility for the imagination to create words from them, and from these words, communicate stories and dreams with others," Londoño said.

Cha Jong Rye, "Expose Exposed" COURTESY PHOTO

The Colombian artist draws from life stories and her personal experience as a migrant to convey a sense of fragility, emptiness, absence and forgetfulness.

Another of her pieces features cursive writing and serves as an ode to graffiti and street calligraphy. "Música" is lively, rendered in restless letters that dance to a tune of their own as if looking to match their muse's defiance. And just as that muse, there's no vacillation in the writing.

It comes as no surprise to learn Londoño was inspired by the gestural declaratory delivery with which street graffiti articulates dissent.

"They are the silent voices that scream in discontent, with a deep desire to be heard at all costs," she said.

Seascapes and mountainscapes inspire Cha Jong Rye, whose wall-mounted wood panels resemble wrinkle sheets. Those in light tan, such as "Expose Exposed 190508," recall geological models exposing layers of terrain. A crater-like impression with smooth edges is left on them and encourages examination: A crash landing? A power nap's dent?

The Korean artist meticulously sands and layers wood boards to create foreign landscapes like this one. During her process, she surrenders to the will of her three-dimensional canvases, letting it dictate the ultimate arrangement and flow. The lack of expectations and set goals liberates the artist to go in any direction. There is no betrayal or contradiction, just mutual trust.

If we follow the light, shadows, and ripples in "Expose Exposed 211006," we witness the landscape morphing before our eyes. The alien piece done in dark blue seems to conceal someone beneath the surface and that someone has woken up, keeps pulling the creased fabric toward the center and away from the edges. Or maybe, it's all a dream.

Projection and subjectivity are vital to Jong Rye's process.

"The freedom of the viewer to interpret my work from a unique perspective," she said through Long-Sharp Gallery, which represents the four sculptors included in the show. "My works allow the viewers’ experiences and energies to inform their perception."

The small setting provided by the newly restored space housing "SculptHER" facilitates an intimate viewing experience, which runs about 30 minutes long. That's plenty of time to realize the future of sculpture won't come in the form of a bronze or marble slingshot.

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