Open Studios 2010, CSULB

ARTISTS

JENNIFER REIFSNEIDER

ARTIST STATEMENT
Forms and systems that fail in spite of (and sometimes because of) our efforts to maintain them are central elements in my artwork. Starting from these structures, I investigate ideas about perception, desire, and communication. Buddhist philosophies of nondualism, mindfulness, and self are significant influences, and compass points of trust, uncertainty, effort, and stillness guide my explorations. The resulting sculptures and installations are balancing acts: simple truths bared in barely perceptible forms, or wholes that are more than the sum of their parts inevitably falling back into pieces.

I am interested in relationships, and find rich content in cultural and mythical histories of common materials. Fiber materials and processes are especially meaningful in work that confronts the paradoxical nature of experience and memory. Materials can be so intimately wound into our daily lives they remain invisible. They can be complexly organized and stronger than steel, but still lack the independent, internal structure needed to be anything other than completely flaccid. Processes are simple, ancient, hand-worked manipulations of tension designed to control the threat of chaos, but a single stitch is a caught moment, sublime in its potential for infinite repetition. Using the interlocking, fractal nature of the stitch in this context, I look for the logic of beginnings, endings, and cause and effect.

EMAIL: jennifer@reifsneider.com

CV: (download pdf)

WEBSITE: reifsneider.com