Laurie Beth Zuckerman
ICONARTE
Altar Installations
"I refer to myself as an altar junkie, since I am hooked on
creating obsessively intricate altar installations honoring my deceased
ancestors. I amass eclectic collections of well-loved antiques—the
building blocks of my altars. More is more is my personal motto
and justification for my hunter-gatherer addiction. My found-object
assemblage altars and memory vessels are the ideal format for
my approach to visual excess, with synchronicity guiding my visual
directions. The gestalt of each altar amounts to more than the sum of
its myriad parts—transcending the material world to reveal mysteries
from the spiritual realm."
"My practice began in 1992, years after
my passion was ignited by an encounter with a cool blue chapel in San
Blas, Mexico. This was the first Catholic sanctuary I had stepped into,
and I was instantly drawn to the immortal entity of Mary, the Jewish
mother who grieves for her crucified son, Jesus. This exhilarating
experience fueled my desire to recreate such beauty and reverence in my
own home."
"Consequently, I have constructed dozens of altars and
memory jugs to display in museums, universities, and galleries, with no
guidance other than my intention and aesthetic intuition. Years of
experimentation, and research travel to Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, and
Trinidad, helped me to meld Hispanic Catholic altar sensibilities with
the earthier aspects of African Congo, Brazilian Candomblé, Cuban
Santería, and Haitian Vodou religions. After my parents passed away, I
began making memorials expressly to them. Altarmaking enabled me to
examine these life-altering events, as well as the tragedies
befalling my Russian-Jewish ancestors during the 1918 Spanish Flu
Pandemic, The Holocaust, and other untimely deaths."
"I regard my
altars as three-dimensional paintings, coordinated by color and
composition, plus the cultural and historical significance of the
objects I acquire. These are nostalgic works, steeped with layers of
symbolic resonance and personal reflection. The emotionality
and physicality of the altars made painting and drawing seem flat and
limiting, but this year I returned to drawing. I am developing a series
of black and white studies from my cast-iron bust of a Madonna, which I
interpret as the Mother of Sorrows—in honor of the mothers in my family
who have grieved their children's' deaths."
--Text from "Philosophy" by Laurie Beth Zuckerman ©2015
--Text from "Philosophy" by Laurie Beth Zuckerman ©2015
"Memory Jugs" by Laurie Beth Zuckerman (three of a series)
Thanks for visiting Enchanted Revelries today - I hope you'll stop by again next week! Be sure to check out the other offerings of the participants on today's Beverly's Pink Saturday blog hop!
Now, go make something beautiful!
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(¸.•´ (¸.•´? Tristan
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(¸.•´ (¸.•´? Tristan
"Madre dolorosa: Spanish Veil"
graphite drawings 22"x30"
©Laurie Beth Zuckerman 2015
