|
Leigh
Anne Lester
Artist Statement #1 :
My work addresses the
place between the genesis of genetic modification and its aftereffects.
Genetic modification offers humans the resources and means to change the
composition of species from the microscopic level to the macroscopic
system; to change the composition of a species by deleting or adding an
attribute to suit our own desires. But, what is disposable? Too often we
don’t have a clear view of what the ramifications will be for a plant
that has been altered or the species that depend upon it for survival. The
new outcome of this potentiality can capsize a natural balance or create a
new species for that balance. This possibility is as exciting as it is
frightening. There is beauty in the unknown.
Beauty is an important tool in my work to lure and entice
the viewer. Through the natural appeal of the plants, the graceful line of
the drawings, the luminosity of the vinyl, the luxurious surface of the
silk embroidery and the ever-evolving complexity of the animation, the
viewer is asked to consider the paradox that beauty is really a balance of
order/control with abandon/uncertainty.
In my drawings and animations, I utilize historical
botanicals. My drawings are on four layers of semi-transparent Mylar with
a botanical drawn on each layer. The transparency of the Mylar allows the
line of each image to optically blend with the next layer. The animations
utilize these same four layers but generate a constant flux between the
different components of each of the individual plants. Elements of each of
the species mix and tangle their visual attributes intermingling disparate
species of flora much like a palimpsest with divergent layers and
characteristics perceptible beneath the surface. The titles of these works
are spliced composites of the plants’ genus and species names in four
letter intervals. As a result they are nonsensical unidentifiable words,
but in-between the gobbledygook, new identifiable words are formed showing
the possibility of redefinition.
Sculpturally, I work from disparate species of plants in
hand sewn, clear plastic vinyl and plexi-glass. Each part of the
synthesized plant is accurately patterned off of incompatible plants made
to fit into an artificial arrangement, creating an amalgamate species. In
my silk embroidery I invent a new species developed from attributes of the
historic botanicals. Placing this new incarnation into the conventional
craft of embroidery raises questions about the veracity of your granny’s
sampler and the historical interventions, both aesthetic and agricultural.
With this new "Frankenstein " flora I bring into play a sense of
the possible, whether good or bad. I want viewers to think of it as a
premonition of the consequences of genetic modification.
Artist Statement #2:
What
does a family portrait tell us? What are those identifiable traits that
are passed on through generations, ones grandmothers’ ears, a great
aunts nose? We live with them, inhabit them and accept them as part of our
selves and our family. My work examines a new facet of family portraiture
associated with the advancement of genetic testing.
There
are two parts to this body of work, the first is embroideries of inherited
family illnesses placed in elaborate frames to reference the traditional
portrait seen in homes or museums along with the brass plack that tells of
the disease and the year that it had effect on the immediate family. The
use of embroidery as a traditional craft whose techniques are passed down
through generations much like an inheritance of ones genes.
The
second body of work is family portraits also but this time it is the
manifestation of/or the damaged part of the organ affected by the
inherited family disease matched to interior household paints. These
pieces are investigating the idea of living with a disease but living in
the setting or atmosphere of the disease by having it be a color that you
would paint a room in your house.
|