SANTOS
rockies, prairies, monsters - COLLISION 7
Recent drawn works alongside sculptural elements reflect my investigation behind notions of fragmentation and transformation through myth, narrative, and memory upon which we construct and negotiate our notions of ‘self’ and ‘home.’
Asuang drawings depict imagery of an otherworldly creatures hybridized from North American and Filipino folklore. Reminiscent of the Yeti, and other abominable snow creatures, glacier asuang emerges from the icy depths, and whose form mimics that of its glacial surroundings, while an excess of violent crystals spew forth from its mouth. Suggesting the illusiveness of mythical creatures - perhaps in their giant forms do not seek home/shelter in the hidden or mysterious lairs, but yet remain open and become one and the same with the environment; in their accumulation of forms, the hybrid creature(s) begin to create the landscape apparent in the distance. As it arises, the entity is reflected on the icy surface and creates a potential doubling. Ultraviolet light not only activates the sense of fire and ice, but inserts magic into the seemingly solid and unwavering archetypal imagery.
The transition between attaching/separation is suggested within the gesture of prairie asuang. Awakened during quiet hours, the figure’s momentum serves as a catalyst for movement through the seemingly flat geography of the prairies – both forming the patchwork of land, and the knit-work on its oversized sweater.
Landscape sculptures constructed of confectionaries such as sugar, meringues, and food colorings become miniature reconfigurations. Echoing the drawn imagery, these formations represent the notion of branching off, being severed, or a sibling from a greater whole; iceberg from glacier, uprooted island from the landmass. These crystallized relics are temporarily preserved – their shelf life re-negotiated through subverted materials that are inherent crystals, while their fluorescent bases touch on the intensity of their excess and thus an impossible sugar high.
The result is an exploration of light meeting the dark, food vs. poison, joy mixing with fear. Re-configured narratives and dichotomies convey the negotiated hybrid of the two. The iconic weight and mass suggest stability and permanence, but simultaneously reference transience and erosion – as these masses of figure and form move, migrate, and subtly carve the land. Within this installation, I welcome and celebrate the play between lived experience and invented truths alluding to the disintegration of memory through intentional fragmentation, and the specific emphasis on identity, the uprooted ‘self’ and definitions of ‘home’– one that becomes a temporarily crystallized archive to be revisited, until dissolved.
