LAURA PARKER
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foamade gestures

"Foamade Gestures" documents the transformation of a length of foam into a drawing material arranged against the grid of my driveway. Cut from the fraying edges of a mattress, this was originally an act of ‘salvage,’ (“foamade” is a play on the “homemade” and all that is ‘domestic’ and ‘comfy,’) but there is an undercurrent of the grotesque and undecipherable.

While portraying the spontaneity of unpremeditated drawing - the unwieldiness of this soft, spongy material allows only simple gestures of winding, dragging and throwing - this series also documents the simple activity of negotiating space to “draw out” a series of loops and coils. The body is absent, but ‘object references,’ take on a kind of corporeality (such as “knot” and “ear.”) Ultimately my interest is in the transformation of an ambiguous, homely material against the warped structure of my driveway (the ‘hallowed grid’ cedes to the hopelessly organic!) The “formless,” takes on a glowing orange prominence while “structure” is gray and distorted. Finally, both figure and ground merge into a mercurial declaration!

 
angel
Foamade Gesture (angel), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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coil
Foamade Gesture (coil), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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eagle
Foamade Gesture (eagle), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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ear
Foamade Gesture (ear), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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knot
Foamade Gesture (knot), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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pretzel
Foamade Gesture (pretzel), 2001
giclee print, 44" x 44"
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foamade gestures
 
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