Alison Saar | Breach Sept. 17–Dec. 17, 2016

34 Pages·2016·1.04 MB·English

Alison Saar | Breach
Sept. 17–Dec. 17, 2016
Alison Saar explores issues of gender, race, racism, and the
African diaspora. She mines mythology, ritual, history, music,
and her biracial heritage as sources for her work.
During a 2013 residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in
New Orleans, Saar was dismayed to see how little had been
done to rebuild African American communities devastated
by Hurricane Katrina eight years earlier. Upon her return
to Los Angeles, she began researching the histories of
American floods and the effect on African Americans. The
Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, described as one of
the worst natural river disasters in U.S. history, piqued her
interest. Heavy rains resulted in the river breaching levees,
creating a historic catastrophe that had a profound impact on
the life of African Americans living in the Mississippi Delta.
The flood exposed the conditions of poor African American
sharecroppers and tenant farmers and their relationship with
cotton plantation owners. The flood also resulted in social,
cultural, federal policy, and political changes.
With water imagery woven throughout, Breach is the
culmination of Saar’s creative research on American rivers and
their historical relationship to the lives of African Americans.
Through mixed media sculpture, paintings, and works on
paper, she explores floods not only as natural phenomena; but
also the complex interaction of social, cultural, and political
factors associated with flooding and its aftermath.
galleries.lafayette.edu [email protected] 610 330 5361
1.
Breach, 2016
wood, ceiling tin, found trunks, washtubs and misc objects
155 x 60 x 51 in. (393.7 x 152.4 x 129.5 cm)
(Inv# AlS16-15) $ 95,000
3 parts:
1) Figure: 72 x 22 x 18 in.
2) Trunks Nest
3) Raft: 4 x 36 x 41 in.
Left
2.
Silttown Shimmy, 2016
wood, ceiling tin, enamel paint, tar and silt
28 x 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (71.1 x 21.6 x 14 cm)
(Inv# AlS16-14)
Right
3.
Black Bottom Stomp, 2016
wood, acrylics, ceiling tin, silt, tar and wax
30 x 9 x 7 in. (76.2 x 22.9 x 17.8 cm)
Inv# AlS16-34)
Left
4: Painting
Staunch, 2016
Charcoal, call and acrylics on found
seed sacks, & linens.
64 x 27 Inches
Right:
5. Painting
Breach, 2016
Charcoal, chalk and acrylic on found seed
sacks and linens
65 x 30 inches
Left:
6. Painting
Sluefoot Slag, 2015
acrylic, gesso and charcoal on found sugar
sacks and linens
53 x 26 1/2 in. (134.6 x 67.3 cm)
Right:
7. Painting
MuddyWater Mambo, 2015

acrylic, gesso and charcoal on found and dyed
denim, sugar sacks and linens
50 x 25 in. (127 x 63.5 cm)

Left:
8: Painting
Swampside Shag, 2015
acrylic, gesso and charcoal on found and
indigo-dyed denim, sugar sacks and linens
48 x 27 in. (121.9 x 68.6 cm)

Right:
9: Painting
Backwater Boogie, 2015
acrylic, gesso and charcoal on found indigo-dyed
sugar sacks and linens
50 x 27 in. (127 x 68.6 cm)
10.
Drawing on found -trunk drawer
Acheron, 2016
Charcoal and chalk on found trunk drawer and sugar sacks
29.5 x 16 x 4 in. (74.9 x 40.6 x 10.2 cm) (Inv# AlS16-23)
11.
Drawing on found -trunk drawer
Silted Brow, 2016
charcoal, chalk & acrylic on linen and found trunk
drawer
17 x 27 x 3 in. (43.2 x 68.6 x 7.6 cm) (Inv# AlS16-36)
12
Mixed media installation
Hades D.W.P., II, 2016
with poems by Samiya Bashir, Acheron, Phlegethetha, Lethe, Styx, and Cocytus
etched glass jars, water, dye, wood, cloth and ink transfer, electronics, found ladles and cups
30 x 50 x 16 in. (76.2 x 127 x 40.6 cm)
Note: D.W.P. is the Department of Water and Power in Los Angeles
13.
print
Deluge, 2016
Woodcut on hand dyed paper
23 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (59.7 x 36.8 cm), Tandem Press
Framed Dimensions: 26 5/8 x 17 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (67.6 x 45.1 x 3.8 cm) Edition
of 30 (Inv# AlS16-24)
14.
print
Backwater Blues, 2014
Woodcut and chine colle
27-3/8 x 14-3/8 in. (69.5 x 36.5 cm)
Tandem Press
framed: 30 3/8 x 17 3/8 in. (77.2 x 44.1 cm)
Inv# AlS14-4)
Alison Saar-Breach, 2016
crate sizes from Los Angeles to PA
US Art shuttle service
Crate 71.000 51.000 47.000
Crate 12.000 98.000 8.000
Crate 42.000 48.000 24.000
Crate 36.000 78.000 28.000
Bin Box 28.000 48.000 24.000
Bin Box 28.000 48.000 24.000
Total Cubic Feet : 217
One additional box might be added, approx 24 x 30 x 30
Artist’s book
During spring 2016 Alison Saar and poet Evie Shockley collaborated on an artists’ book at Lafayette’s Experimental
Printmaking Institute, E.P.I. See photos of work in progress below and following page. Saar will complete the edition
during her September 2016 residency
15.
Artist’s book, collaboration between Alison Saar and poet
Evie Schockley
mami wata (or, how to know a goddess
when you see one), 2016
Consists of 20/20 Box editions
5/5 artist proof sets
each in a unique found box with
3 poems—one on cloth, one two-part and sewn, one
folded and tied—3 woodcuts, and a colophon (digital
print)

4. Distressed cigar box (found object), Lethe Interior of case
serigraph on plexiglas, overall size varies based
on cigar box dimensions
Serigraph, distressed
stained fabric, col- Etching, serigraph, embossed letter press text,
lograph, hand sewn Etching, serigraph, distressed ink stained rice pa- (Rives BFK) cotton rag paper; part III of poem,
(print coming out per(Kinwashi), hand sewn edge; part I of poem: etch- etched and embossed with letterpress; folded
of the mouth) 26 ing, 2-part print, sewn at top; rolled; approx 18 inches and tied with hand dyed cotton
inches long; part II x 7-3/4 inches
poem