RECONFIGURED

Opening Reception:
Thursday, January 8, 2015 | 6 - 8PM

Margaret Thatcher Projects is pleased to present RECONFIGURED, a group exhibition including artworks by Jaq Belcher, Adam Fowler, Meg Hitchcock and Nan Swid. For each, process is an important doorway into understanding their intent. Featuring works on paper, the exhibition focuses on the style in which these artists morph their common material to translate it into their own visual language.

In her approach, Jaq Belcher keeps in mind how to draw on her bright white surfaces without adding or subtracting physical components. Instead, Belcher cuts into the paper, manipulating light and shadow organized into patterns that evoke natural phenomena in shape and form. The cuts made to create her repeated forms, and the time it took to make them, are then carefully notated along the bottom of each drawing. The focus on reduction and repetition require a focused stillness and, for Belcher, is a testament to the practice of being completely present in the moment.

Uniting aspects of drawing, collage and sculpture in his process, Adam Fowler starts with sweeping graphite drawings on lightweight paper. Fowler proceeds to cut away the negative spaces from his drawings with an X-acto knife, carefully stacking the resulting lace-thin sheets to complete his work. Completed works range from 2 to upwards of 80 layers. Exploring subtleties in surface and shade within the structure of his drawing space, Fowler’s calligraphic gestures simultaneously explore the boundaries of minimalism, drawing and abstract expressionism.

Meg Hitchcock, inspired by the loaded nature of spiritual texts, and her own lifelong relationship with spirituality, cuts her material from sacred texts such as the Bible, the Torah or the Bhagavad Gita. Each element only as large as one letter from her source material, the small pieces of cut paper are then used to form passages from other holy books, often composed as a mandala to express unity and completion. For Hitchcock, this practice opens a dialogue to understand the similarities and shared humanity behind these texts.

Nan Swid too uses paper that is loaded with history, carefully selecting antique books and ledgers for the tactile quality of their worn surfaces, laden with mystery in respect to their past usages. Swid breathes new life into her weatherworn materials, allowing for an open methodology as she deconstructs and rearranges, eloquently combining her objects into compositions that exude a controlled serenity despite exposed cracks and fissures.