Exhibitions

NALANI STOLZ: SOFT BONE, TENDER BODY

University Art Gallery (The University of the South) / 68 Georgia Ave., Sewanee, TN October 28 - December 12th

Nalani Stolz

Working with abstract forms and organic materials and processes, Stolz considers our conceptions of—and experience of inhabiting—our bodies. The artist makes use of materials and practices from the domestic sphere and puts these to new purpose, evoking care and intimacy, while rendering the familiar unfamiliar, and beyond easy or full understanding.

Material surrogates for our bodies and their systems, the pieces included in soft bone, tender body change over time. They grow, and break down. Their surfaces crack and age. They seep. They expand and stretch, they empty. They are shaped by processes—the growth of yeast, fermentation, how vinegars and salt respond. They are porous, they are messy, they elude control, they decay. They are crafted tenderly, they are beautiful, they are temporary.

Nalani Stolz “shift(s) our seemingly solid edges; reminding us that we are … changing, decaying vessels, loosely contained by skin, muscle, and bone.”