Elizabeth Klimek

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Statement

My work is a hybrid of photography, printmaking and sculpture.   My work is just as much about the value of art and art mediums, as well as of property, and the stability of traditional economic structure.

In the series Solid, I create a small, three- dimensional houses made of paper, using tromp l’ oeil effects to make it look as though it were made from a stable and strong material, such as wood.  I use this as a metaphor for our belief in the once thriving housing market, which is currently struggling.

The Landscape series documents the devolution of a particular town in rural Appalachia, which I use as a microcosm for thousands of towns facing the same economic challenges.  This town has been hit hard by the current recession, which has promoted drug addiction and violence.  The average price of a house in this area is $10,000.

In the Silhouette and Duplex series’, I blend images from domestic wallpaper and silhouettes of houses.  My desire is to represent class and wage structure with humble dignity. I find the universal need to adorn the home and be house proud is essential to daily life.  Through my research I am finding that patterns of wallpaper which beautified the walls of the aristocracy are also reprinted in later years and can be seen on many walls of working class people in America.  I find this simple, utilitarian form of printmaking is able to cross boundaries of class.  Lately I have been creating my own wallpaper, based on wall paper that I find in a specific stately home or mansion.

I plan to continue exploring this body of work until a solution can be found to end the current recession.

 

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