fragmented

Fragmented

By Melinda Friday

Throughout history, fragments have given many societies a focus for research towards their ultimate search for truth. It may be fragments of texts, objects, or narratives that one may desire wholeness. The lure of the fragment is the potential quest for answers to its past existence in hopes to discover an understanding for the present. The exhibition “Fragments” is an exploration into the use of the fragment formally and metaphorically.

The word fragment comes, from the Latin word. Fragmentum "a fragment, remnant," from root of frangere "to break." Webster’s Dictionary defines the fragment as a part broken off, detached, or incomplete. The artists chosen to participate in the exhibition use an idea of the fragment unique to their work, but are all connected by its roots. It is important to understand that the fragment may not always take on the function of an object, but anything representational of something whole. Ann Hamilton, Kristen Morgin, Elana Herzog, and Louise Bourgeois are four successful artists that are, in some ways, fragments in their own right. They represent a shift in history where women are holding there own in the art world. Their work will live on as a fragmented token of their existence.

A fragment is not just an object. It is anything that will connect a prior existence or is representational. Memory clings to particular fragmented objects based on their association to specific times, places or individuals. A piece becomes a fragment when its function changes from an object to a metaphor.

“It is not the fragment that is ephemeral but rather that which is enduring” (Feigenbaum). In the introduction of the “The Fragment: An Incomplete History, the editor William Tronzo, refers to the big bang theory to explain the fragmentation process. The theory explains that since the big bang the universe is in constant motion of expansion. If this is true, it leads one to believe that the fragment is not just an incomplete whole, but itself an object in motion that has its own purpose. With this in mind, what was first viewed, as a symbol of the ephemeral can now be understood as that which is enduring. Toronzo explains that the whole is actually ephemeral. Wholeness is transitory (Tronzo).

“W(E)VE”, by Elana Herzog is a compelling work that prides itself on its beauty. Photographs alone draw one in. I can only imagine experiencing the work in person. On the surface W(E)VE is a fragmentation of textiles that are ripped, torn, and disjointed from the surface it clings to. Climbing around walls and up corners, the fabrics disintegrate and resurface in and out of their entanglement with the wall. It reads as a passage through a memory where information has become disjointed and lost over time. Through Elana’s playful manipulation of materials, however, a new order reveals itself. The negotiation between the content of her work and the wall creates imagery that reads much like a painting…If these walls could paint what would they say?

Investigating a detail of Herzog’s work, its construction becomes apparent. Countless concentrations and subsequent diffusions of staples follow the weave of the fabric determining the unique textiles ultimate interpretation. Without the use of the staple, the piece would cease to exist in the same context. The staple gun is an indispensible tool in studio practice, often impermanent, but decidedly utilitarian, perfect for quick 3-D sketches. Textiles, on the other hand, have been an object of materiality depicting wealth and status for thousands of years. Fabric connotes domesticity and femininity, signifying comfort and security. It is a very loaded material, in contrast to the seemingly insignificant staple, which acts as the architecture to her work. The aesthetic and material qualities of Elana’s work, reveal an very apparent interest in the formal and conceptual use of the fragment.

Kristen Morgin’s impermanent replications of antique objects such as cars, toys, musical instruments, and animals, have been a continued investigation in her work since she attended graduate school at Alfred University. Constructed of unfired clay bonded with glue and cement, Morgin’s forms are constructed over wood and wire armatures. Leaving the armatures accessible to the viewer informs the audience of their architectural structures and process. Cracks along the surface of her forms also are informative to the process of ceramics and its tendency to shrink as it looses water. Leaving the process of the making evident to the viewer provides information that is imperative to her work. This knowledge is providing substance to the process of making.

The objects she replicates, true scale or larger, resemble something pulled from an archeological excavation sight. Kristen relies on the untraditional construction of unfired clay for conceptual completion. The objects Kristen chooses to replicate hold both historic and emotional value, conjuring nostalgia and memory through their playful subject matter. The objects themselves seem to hold less importance than the memories to which they attach themselves too. Kristen’s works are fragmented moments in time that have been preserved to capture the experiences in history that are worth holding on to.

The role of the fragment in her work is more literal in some pieces and less obvious in others. “Lion” is a replication of what seems to be pieces to a carousel character from a child’s memory. Kristen replaced the lions missing elements with a wood frame representing the architecture of the once whole object and giving the fragments a structure to cling too. One odd thing about this piece is that unlike her other works; the Lion is constructed from fired ceramics. Completing the ceramic process by firing the work to a permanent state refers to the notion that the fragment is one of endurance and not just a temporary object. Taking in consideration the unfired state of most of her work Kristen’s decision to fire a piece takes on more importance than most fired work. Her M.F.A. work from Alfred implies the opposite by creating unfired objects that look like they are in the process of decay. She speaks of the ephemeral, transactional function of an object: A violin,once a vessel of music, takes on meaning beyond its original function.

What is the human obsession with collecting the fragment? Susan Stewart uses the souvenir as an example to explain our desires to hold on to objects that connect us with our past existence. She explains that it is not the souvenir that holds value, but the experiences that they are attached too. These object only exist beyond there formal state through the existence of the narrative. It must be understood that it is not the object that holds the narrative, but the narrative of the owner. The collection becomes another form of narrative. Although maybe only one piece of the collection that has a personal connection too the relationship is applied to the collection as a whole (stewart,135-137, 150). The physical value of the souvenir is low, but the connection between the experience and the object is incalculable. The human tendency for nostalgia is not one easily explained. It is a desire that holds no true value or immediate need for survival. Yet it is a need whose roots are strong.

Louise Bourgeois’s , Cell Series, uses the fragment frequently within the context of gated spaces. Pictures are limiting and rarely captivate the experience needed to understand a piece of Bourgeois’ Alan Schwartsman describes the work very comprehensively. The use of the fragmented body is present in most of Louis Bourgeois’ work, but the piece “Cell (you better grow up)” is particularly successful. The cell, a construction of disparate parts itself, contains a number of fragmented objects within its walls. The seven foot cubed cell is made of old industrial windows and caging touching on its own past existence.

The focal point of the space is an unrefined block of marble with three skillfully carved hands abruptly ending at the forearm. The imagery of the pair of hands, possibly a child’s, held by the hand of another initiates a strong emotional response of comfort and security. The implication is that the love and comfort received from another might be short lived, but the effects of the experience will continue. On an aged wooden workbench sits three empty perfume bottles and a tall glass structure that resembles a vortex of sorts. The empty perfume bottles are fragments of a past function that they no longer perform, but have been held onto because of there reference to an experience the artist may hold valuable. On another table sits a stack of bulbous glass forms containing a nude female torso and a ceramic bowl with three chambers. Three circular pivoted mirrors allow various perspectives of the space from different angles.

Bourgeois use the fragmentation of the narrative to create her spaces. The space itself becomes a fragment. Pulling from her childhood and other life experiences she attempts to understand there continual existence in her life. The perfume bottles from her child hood have lost there intended function, but has gained transactional purpose as mementos. The importance is unique to the artist, but as a common object one may find value through there own experience.

Ann Hamilton is a multimedia artist, whose work ranges from large-scale installations, photography, prints, to performance and found objects. Enriched with history that is relevant to the area that her work is being displayed she relies on heavy research to outline her installations. Weighted with social and political implications her work is often significant to the building or areas past. Hamilton’s use of element that awake the sensory has strong implications in most of her work.

“Malediction” 1991 in SoHo was an installation remarking on the local history of the area. Hamilton’s Installation responded on the booming clothing industry that once was reliant on the use of immigrants, woman and children. A fire in 1911, killing 146 workers, forced politicians to pass laws that enforced safer work situations and the use of child labor (art21).

Enter the installation the audience is first forced to step over a room full of wine soaked rags that have been rung our and left to producea strong odor. Entering the next room one could hear a voice reciting two poems by Walt Whitman, “Song of myself” and “The Body Electric.” The artist sits at a large table facing away from the entrance. On the table sits a large bowl of dough to her left and a wicker casket to her right. On further investigation, one would notice that Hamilton is using the dough to make an impression of the roof of her mouth and then places it in the casket. The wall facing the performer was stacked full of folded bed linens from floor to ceiling (art 21).

Hamilton use of the fragment is a bit different than most. Her work relies on fragmented history to evoke a question for her installations present. The bread impressions become rotting fragments of the unspoken and decaying dirt of the past that the present ignores. The use of the casket remarks on mortality, but by combining the use of the bread and wine Hamilton is implying the act of communion. Communion is representational of the body and blood of Christ living on through his followers. In mortality, there is also the endurance of memory. The overwhelming pile of bed linens piled against the wall represents the work force of the women and children that were exploited in the clothing industry. Smell, sound, and taste are strong senses the can evoke nostalgia for a certain time I ones life. Hamilton uses all of the senses in her installation in a truly remarkable way.

The fragment in not always as tangible, but is anything representational of memory or to past which is unique to individuals. The function of the fragment becomes a bridge between something that is experienced and something that can only exist conceptually. Although objects may loose their immediate functions, the experiences they represent endure as fragments.

In conclusion, the exhibition may be less about the fragment, and more about the strength of the experience and the substance, we associate them too whether it be an object or not. It is a remnant of what is left which may only be a fragmented memory. It is on human nature to cling on to these notions for it is the study of our past socially and individually that makes sense of the present and informs the future. Without these bits of information to ponder on, we would be left with nothing to question. It is the fragment and our desire to understand that keeps the search for truth alive.