Press Release: Sharon Engelstein

New Works: 02.2
07.11.02

New Works: 02.2
July 11 – September 8, 2002

Sharon Engelstein Houston, TX
Arthur Jafa New York, NY
Ann-Sofi Sidén Stockholm, Sweden

Selected by Valerie Cassel

About the Artist
Born in 1965 in Montreal, Canada, Sharon Engelstein currently lives and works in Houston, TX. Engelstein earned a BFA in Mass Communication/Journalism and Sculpture at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL (1987), and a MFA in Sculpture at Claremont Graduate School, CA (1990). Engelstein has exhibited widely throughout the US, including solo exhibitions at Locust Projects, Miami, FL (2002); the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (2001); and Sala Diaz, San Antonio, TX (2000); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (1996); and the Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago, IL (1992). Engelstein has been included in group exhibitions at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa (2002); Exit Art, New York, NY (2001); Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA (1999); and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, CA (1996). She was a Core Fellow at Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX. In addition she has received awards from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston, TX., Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the National Endowment for the Art.

Sharon Engelstein was selected for the 02.2 residency by Valerie Cassel. Valerie Cassel is an Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX. Prior to her position at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Cassel was the director of the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1996-2001) and Program Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts (1988-1995). In 2000, she served as co-curator of the Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

About the Project
Engelstein's curious sculptures hover between abstraction and representation, between function and fiction. While her technique of execution has varied over the years, her forms have maintained a certain hybrid identity. The bloated molecular sculptures seem to originate from animal and plant bodies as well as other organic forms.

Through the investigation of suggestive yet non-specific shapes, Engelstein began adding technological elements that reflected contemporary culture, often overlaying the forms with urban or industrial references. The globular shapes or Booleans as Engelstein calls them, vary in size and material. While some are fashioned as inflated hollow cavities, others are presented as solid masses of plaster, foam, polyurethane, or vinyl-coated nylon, some even decorated with sequins.

Engelstein's recent work evolves from design exploration which utilizes Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create and manipulate sculptural forms in the virtual space of the computer. To realize the objects in physical space, the computerized drawings are subsequently output through Computer- Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and electronically transmitted for automated fabrication. Revealing little proof of their process, the completed three- dimensional objects are perfectly formed, geometrically constructed equivalents of the initial plan. For Engelstein this merging organic—her drawn forms—and technological—the computer process—creates an intersection between nature and science. The resulting air-filled large-scale sculptures are anthropomorphic hybrids.

During her residency at ArtPace, Engelstein continues her investigation of inflatable vinyl sculpture but here eliminates the fabricator opting instead for a hands-on approach. In response to the context of the residency, Engelstein turned her studio into a working laboratory—intentionally creating an environment that would facilitate this move back to an acute and intimate process of execution.

From the state-of-the-art computerized design programs to the traditional mechanics of a sewing machine, Engelstein is once again fusing the hand with the apparatus. Via the collaboration and consulting assistance of Chris Lund (Industrial Designer) and Mark Neumann (Custom Computer Workstations), Engelstein worked with a new computer program, designing and patterning her sculptures—growing them intuitively, sewing as she went. Despite the use of an industrial nylon fabric, the artist's choice of fresh, pastel hues suggests a playful intimacy evident in Engelstein's work. Previously the physical characteristics of the sculptures were known due to their flawless technological construction. However, this current body of work emerged from an intuitive but uncertain process of creation which allowed the artist to anticipate the peculiar physical outcome of these sculptural forms. Engelstein approaches this work more crudely with results that differ from her precisely manufactured, computer- generated sculpture

Exhibition sponsored in part by Jeanne and Mickey Klein.

Exhibition Dates
July 11 —September 8, 2002

Opening Reception
Thursday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 PM

Artists' Dialogue
Friday, July 12, 6:30-8:00 PM
Featuring Sharon Engelstein, Arthur Jafa, and Ann-Sofi Sidén Moderated by Valerie Cassel Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX.

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, August 21, 2002, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join us for a tour of New Works: 02.2 and a brown bag lunch provided by Pecan Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Locations
All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street and Savings. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday until 8 PM and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org