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Interview with Bobbi Meier
Thursday, April 28th, 2011 » See more posts from From the Guest Curators, Interviews
Interview with Bobbi Meier (MFA, Fiber & Material Studies)
by Jessica Cochran, guest curator
Orbs and Cavities, Bobbi Meier
JC: You study in the Fiber & Materials department, but you are showing photography. Can you describe the role of medium in your process? (ie, how/why do you move between sculpture and photography— could you do one with out the other?)
BM: Experimentation with materials as a means to involve my hand in the work and create meaning is an important aspect of my process. My initial interest in sculpture was as a meditative practice, making small objects out of polymer clay while riding the “L”. The sculptures are embedded with personal struggle, as I manipulate them into shapes and forms through tying, binding, stabbing, and using a variety of hard and soft materials.
The move to photography came out of a desire to entice the viewer into an invented world that is suggestive and provocative. With the camera I am able to control areas of investigation in my sculptures, offering images that are ambiguous and open to interpretation. The process between sculpture and photography in this body of work is intertwined to the point where one could not exist without the other.
JC: Your work in the MFA show is very corporeal but a couple works pull me out of that bodily realm, as they seem to point to ambiguous macro-landscapes. Can you talk about what subject matter serves as your point of inquiry? Are you most interested in representation or more of a sensorial experience?
BM: When I am in the studio creating these works I have noticed that so much of the imagery comes from a process of turning and moving my objects around, while analyzing them through the macro lens of the camera. The material used to make the sculptural source, scale, and composition, tend to dictate the reference to body or landscape. My intention is primarily sensorial even when the work is representational. I want the viewer to wonder and question the origin of the images. It is the engagement of sensibilities involving seduction, mystery and discomfort that I find interesting.
Installation View, Bobbi Meier "Obs and Cavities"
Strangulated Orb (Bobbi Meier)
Tags: Bobbi Meier, Interviews, Jessica Cochran
