Exhibitions
CARLA CIUFFO: NANO.STASIS COSMIC GARDEN
Tinney Contemporary / 237 5th Ave. N. August 26, 2017 - September 30, 2017
Carla Ciuffo
Tinney Contemporary is pleased to present Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden, a continuation of Carla Ciuffo's exploration of Stasis and the culmination of her two year odyssey as a visiting artist at Harvard. Blending art with science, Carla's unique collaboration with Harvard's Disease and Biophysics Group examined the cosmic world of nanofiber. Using this intriguing medium to bridge the divide between art and science, her endeavor is to show how artists use science to make their fantasies real and palpable; and how science uses the arts in the same way. Carla's work was sparked by Harvard's Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Kit Parker and his invention of a rotary jet spinning technology. Professor Parker's groundbreaking work has created a textile that is evolving for a spectrum of futuristic uses - from wound healing, tissue and organ growth to "smart" sports related products and high couture. Now, it is being made into art. After two years of working closely with the nanofiber technology at Harvard, Carla developed tiny nanofiber "canvases." Using small swatches from the canvases, SEM (scanning electron microscope) photos were taken utilizing Harvard's electron microscope. Carla expanded these images into an enormous cosmic garden. Large and small format acrylic artworks illustrate the fiber's unique strength and its ephemeral beauty.
Carla Ciuffo's work lies somewhere between narrative, photography, and collage. Imagery is stripped down to its most basic elements, light and texture. Details are taken away then integrated back into the artwork to shape new composites, constructing and deconstructing the boundaries of her photographic world.
During her time with Tinney Contemporary, she has produced a number of installations including portraiture of iconic and contemporary artists that are now a part of the permanent art collection at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame. Other select installations include a profile of Girl With a Scar at Tennessee's Custom's House Museum and several large format public works at Nashville's International Airport.
A recipient of the Woman Art Award 2017, for the Women's Essence Show, Espace Cominnes, Paris, France, Ciuffo's work can be found in collections and corporate installations throughout the United States and Europe.
