FREE URCHIN

OPENING RECEPTION: 7-9pm on Friday, October 16, 2020 at the Gallery Factory with safety precautions (see details below). Facebook event here.

GALLERY HOURS: 12-5pm Thurs, Fri, and Saturdays or by appt (612-743-6664) October 16 through November 7, 2020, with safety measures in place (see below for details). Find directions and a map on our website here.

COVID-19 Note: Masks must be worn! In light of safety concerns, we will be practicing social distancing, limiting to ten people in the gallery at one time, supplying masks to those who do not have, and spraying down/sanitizing frequently. Please contact us with questions or to make a private appointment at northeastsculpture@gmail.com or 612-743-6664.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Perci Chester is a contemporary American artist working across disciplines to explore notions of identity, play and freedom. Her work has been exhibited extensively and is represented in numerous private and public collections. She is the recipient of public commissions for large-scale outdoor works in the United States and abroad. Find more of her work at her website here.

Perci Chester’s latest series BODY OF WORK speaks to birth, motherhood, and the universal experience of way-finding and place-making within the development of individuality and human agency. With a unique coordination of materials and sculptural strategies, this series seeks to challenge convention and playfully engage viewers with two large-scale installations.

INITIAL RESPONSE

INITIAL RESPONSE is a sculptural installation comprised of 14 pairs of cast aluminum pregnant torsos. These can occupy space in different configurations and thus create a unique correspondence to each other and dynamic meanings to viewers. In this multi-part installation, each piece is made to resemble a capsule or eggshell with both the front and back torsos wrapped around a single letter from a discarded sign. The human forms express a variety of emotional gestures while the letters act as an initial – individuality to be birthed and a path coming into being. Letters signify ideas and emotions, elicit connotations, and swirl in the ways we use and think of language.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE

ARC DE TRIOMPHE is a nine-foot high arch composed of 13 unique body molds made from pregnant women and cast in aluminum. These molds were collected over 20+ years where friends, often dancers, volunteered to have a mold made of their body as it was in transformation. To connect each fragmented form into a single movement, they are brought into an arch using long bolts. Supporting itself in balance, the arch inquires into the nature of vulnerability and projects the sensations of flight and movement. Several torsos reveal small drilled openings which have been stitched with bright orange ribbon and a variety of colored pantyhose wave as triumphant flags.