Sarah Nance at the Wave
“Tracings”
Images by Ian Clarke
ECA had the priviledge of featuring a site-specific installation by Sarah Nance as our first exhibition. Nance spent the week prior to the opening installing the work, one thread at a time. She spent an entire day tracking the light as it moved through the space. The light was (and is) an intrinsic part of this, and other works by Nance. She has particular interest in the way material can simultaneously embody permanence and transience.
The silk thread she used could be as easily seen as it was invisible, based on the amount of light pushing through the work. The mineral salt “spill” carried a memory of abstract painting formally, but it’s part in the entire work gave the viewer the distinct feeling they were looking down on earth. This effect, along with the light and “rays” (as more than one viewer called them) created a work that was at once aggressive and delicate, invisible and present. Initially titled “Tracings”, upon the close of the show, Sarah renamed the piece “(I miss you) for twenty-nine years.”
Tracings was on view at our former Whiteaker residency space from August 18th to September 8th, 2012.
