The Sum of Simple Parts Equals Tara Donovan's Sublime Process

MAMs Current 35 Exhibition Presents Donovans New Work

May 10, 2012

12:29 a.m.

Supposedly Aristotle and Gestalt theory claim, “The whole is greater than, or other than the sum of its parts.” This theory relates to non-linear thinking where compounding simple objects can be substantially more than the one object, or part, by itself. New York\'s Tara Donovan illustrates this truth with stunning clarity. Donovan came to the city last week to install her exhibition: “Currents 35: Tara Donovan” at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Chief Curator Brady Roberts had been in discussions with Donovan for several years culminating in this visually stunning exhibition that displays new, never before seen installations. If one missed the May 5 opening, Currents 35 will be displayed through October 7. One visit will be the minimum amount of time to appreciate Donovan\'s artwork. The interplay of exterior light, perspective and interior shadows transform the viewer\'s experience for each separate installation. Her innovative sculptures continually enhanced when the MAM opened the back wall in the contemporary gallery to Lake Michigan and the Eastern horizon. A morning\'s sunshine streaming through the window or a Thursday evening night sky will delicately nuance Donavan\'s work.<o:p /> When one enters the gallery, one sees where Donovan installed butterscotch colored Mylar sheets in a long, narrow window piercing a gallery wall. Peering through the twisted Mylar swirls to the lakefront resembles a wide lens prism; elegant and expansive, depending on how close the viewer stands to the wall. With this endless series of viewpoints, the work appears to reference striated rock formations or golden-lit waves in still motion with the Great Lake moving through the background, completely mesmerizing the viewer. <o:p /> Donovan graciously answered questions regarding her creative process when the exhibition was being installed. She explained she derives her inspiration completely from the materials, inexpensive and mass-produced, such as a single drinking straw or a #17 Royal Bank pin. Yet, make no mistake, while the material may be common, the exact type of pin or straw needs to be specific. The #17 Royal Straight pin was stronger than several other types and defied bending when placed in the canvas. Donovan orders all her straws for her installation Haze from one manufacturer. When she used another type of straw, the walls were too thin and changed the calculations and dynamics of the entire installation, which she had previously completed numerous times, and needed to be reordered.<o:p /> Why is the specific straw so important? Her installation Haze covers an entire museum wall will close to three million pure white drinking straws. The atmospheric and ethereal work with an undulating top border resembles a peaceful skyscape or a sea of ocean\'s foam. Until the viewer examines the installation from a nose point of view, the effects of the sum of these simple parts magically transforms the gallery wall while transporting the view to otherworldly places. Donovan never plans on referencing nature or the organic world. The very down to earth artist quietly states, “She relies on the inherent qualities of these materials to tease out their peculiarities that bring out these phenomenon.”<o:p /> Donovan now leaves her work untitled to allow the viewer to create a separate, unique experience or imagining. Exemplified by Drawing (Pins) 2011, a quartet of images, and Untitled (Crystals) 2011, a spectacular grouping of various sized, almost sparkling sculptures. Her three dimensional standing floor “crystals” were created from different lengths of originally six feet, square plastic rods then cut into various lengths, multiplied into a whole by geometrical principles, and eventually hot glued into a steel armature that resembles a cone. (Which need to be hoisted with a mechanical lift into place.)While Donovan\'s process appears less complex on first glance, discovering these miraculous transformations requires hours of experimentation and problem solving before the construction begins. She starts by deciding as she puts its, “How a singular thing can be translated into a three dimensional object without adding anything else.”<o:p /> Donovan later continues she\'s not interested in controlling the materials or the viewer\'s interpretation, but states, “What drives me is wanting to discover the properties in these materials for myself. It all happens through doing, Doing is discovery.”<o:p /> Four pin drawings or assemblages complete the "Currents 35" exhibition. The gallery light fools the viewer\'s eye into thinking the pins are several different colors, a combination of silvery metallics or a burnished golds. However, each pin in this these drawings is exactly the same, the #17 Royal Bank pin. Viewers will marvel at the transcendent quality Donovan achieves by controlling their placement: the density, the spatial proportions and the positive and negative space. Parts of each drawing were based on mathematical formulas, which Donovan works through in her very private and secluded New York City studio with her assistants. First, the formulas will be decided on a small scale and then transferred to larger applications for specific proportions or exhibitions, when she knows the exact location, room or gallery size. <o:p /> The Milwaukee Art Museum will be publishing a catalogue on this premiere exhibition “Currents 35: Tara Donovan” now that the artist\'s new work is completed and in situ with photographs possible, to be available at the art museum store. Over the next few months, be amazed by the artwork\'s interaction with the artificial and natural light, how each installation appears to “breathe” as the very essence of a living organism. While each work is only an uncommon accumulation of common objects, the whole marvelously surpasses even the sum of each individual piece. Where contemporary artwork could theoretically connect to non-linear Gestalt thinking. Donovan concludes by saying, “I will continue to create rules with each new material through originality [a unique process], materials with endless possibilities.” <o:p /> The Milwaukee Art Museum presents “Currents 35: Tara Donovan” through October 7. Check for the exhibition\'s catalogue with a forward written by the renowned contemporary artist Chuck Close in the coming months. Close has been an encouraging and supportive personal inspiration to Donovan through her compelling artistic career. Read Kat Murrell\'s review of the exhibition in the May 10 edition of the Shepherd Express or  <a href=\"\">www.expressmilwaukee.com</a> <o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p>

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