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Sparkplug Vitae SPARKPLUG VITAE
Past Sparkplug Members Deborah Carroll Anzinger Deborah's work questions the permanence of identity in the midst of changing context. Her paintings present themselves as mental maps of personal memories dispersed over amorphous environments partly rooted in reality. They serve as a conceit for the idea that the manner in which the impressions of the past occupy the space of the present are as important as their provenance. Peter Gordon Inspired by the physical qualities and cycles in nature, Peter’s artwork explores the intersection of harmony and discord. He relies on observation and perception to investigate structural order. Using materials to express ideas, he seeks to make the intangible, tangible. Michael Matason What Michael finds most intriguing about photography is its ability to capture the narrative inherent in reality. The scene is set, the camera set up at one end and him at the other. There needs to be boundaries and rules set before working starts for in dwelling outside of these boundaries critical motion could be lost. The performance is controlled by his body movement, time, and positioning. Emphasis is given on the specific shapes, designs and the human figure asmanipulated through his own conscious and unconscious efforts. The camera records and our hard copy, the photograph, is left as the closest record of reality, including both fact and fiction Lisa McCarty Photographer and printmaker Lisa McCarty uses cameras and photographic processes with technical limitations in order to examine the subjectivity of photographic fidelity as well as the neurological processes that govern sight and cognition. She deliberately restricts her control over the exposure, focus, and clarity of her images in order to reflect the lack of control we have over the brain functions that interpret visual information and thus shape our reality. Additionally, Lisa's work deals with the gap between what is captured in a photograph versus what is actually seen,experienced, and remembered. To this end she often alters images of her own making by means of transfer, layering, and collage. This disorganizing or re-orienting of photographic information is also an attempt to recall the abstractions of light and form from which sight originates. Kathryn McDonnell “What are you looking for? What satisfies you?” Art is treacherous and beautiful. It simultaneously carries the power to console all the while raising the longing and desire for the uniqueness of being human, the comfort of belonging, the heightened consciousness of wanting to become a person not defined by the gross needs of bodily and psychological habits. Tension. The world wants me to want something other than who I really am.Kathryn makes her paintings open. Layers of paint intersect and glide within the frame to intensify the ambiguity of space, form and light. Through this interplay, she hopes to underscore conflicts between society and the yearning of the individual. Karen Joan Topping Secret narratives, both playful and melancholic, have a different time and duration for each of us. A child’s examination of the world is part observation, part feeling. There is no thinking. Fantasy, memory, hope and anxiety are complex, entangled and not easily described, but keenly felt. We are not born knowing how to interpret denials and lies. Is there anyone that doesn’t know the nauseating feeling of vulnerability, the visceral and dizzying awareness that you don’t knowwhere you are? Everything that meant something to you does not make any sense in this moment. Your understanding echoes the limitations of your perception. Your sense of control is revealed to be an illusion. Karen’s studio practice engages to capture gently violent moments when the naked simplicity of what is right in front of us can be examined. What seems marginal becomes the focus and exploring the everyday reveals extraordinary attachments. Jenny Walton Lea-Ann Bigelow IN MEMORIAM Mark became a part of Sparkplug in 2007, when the group was newly formed, He was a highly respected artist in the Washington, D.C. metro area where he had lived and worked since 1987. Mark embodied what it means to be a working artist, His depth of experience as a printmaker and art handler as well as his tireless devotion and enthusiasm for his own work and for community building was integral to the things we have achieved in Sparkplug: a DCAC Collective in the past two years. He created art works of integrity; works that communicated all the wonder and intensity that were such a part of his personality. While he exhibited his work nationally and internationally he was an especially fierce and resolute advocate for the unsung hero and history of visual art in DC. He was also widely known and appreciated for fostering opportunities for emerging artists and welcoming any one that was new to the District of Columbia art scene, everything Sparkplug aspires to be. What we are missing in missing Mark is inestimable. It was in knowing Mark that all of us have permanently found that the impact one person can make in the lives of others through their words, actions and kindness is what is most immeasurable. Mark Planisek in his own words <home> |
