Cynthia Consentino
Make-Believe, 2002, installation of sculptures (clay, glaze, oil paints, cold wax) on artificial grass; Lent by the Artist; Courtesy John Elder Gallery, New York, NY; Lady, 2001, 57" x 44" x 14"
I am interested in the stories we tell and the games we play.
Certain images and stories are compelling and hold an emotional charge beyond what is immediately definable. By making such potent material the focus of my art, I bring the indefinable into an arena for exploration and play. Here, new combinations are possible, new insights inevitable.
The installation, Make-Believe, much like the children's game, uses storytelling and imagination to investigate the nature of things. It takes familiar elements from Roman history, European fairy tales, and contemporary culture and reassembles them into new, and at times, inverted configurations. This synthesis of familiar with unfamiliar, or real with imagined elements, creates a new story from which a series of dualities evolves. As a result, we are asked to consider the nature of civilized versus savage, truth versus fiction, natural versus artificial, good versus evil, play versus work, and feminine versus masculine.
—Cynthia Consentino
Please join the artist for an informal gallery talk on Saturday, June 29 at 3pm.
