Shift is a combination of handmade paper and steel. The handmade paper is stretched across the raw steel form in its still-wet stage: the stage between raw material and a piece of paper, much like the stage between waking and sleeping sought after when meditating. I see handmade paper as a crosscut of material experience, fragments pulled from the water of the papermaking vat and culminated into a static form.
As the wet paper meets the steel and dries, rust forms through the oxidation process and leaves a patina of yellow speckles. This marriage of opposing materials creates both a degradation and a growth in the rust that approximates the result of any intertwined relationship: a taking-away (perhaps in time, resources, certain freedoms) and a giving (in love, comfort, support, meaning).
The illumination highlights this meeting, while also giving us a glimpse at a deeper look at the material the paper is made of. With the suspension and compression of material that creates paper, a nondescript and yet totally unique time is recorded for everyone and also no one.
work created for POST: Cranbrook class of 2020 grad show at Wasserman Projects in Detroit
images by Glare Gatto, http://www.claregatto.net