Arctic Abrasions
2015-2017
Traveling to the high Arctic reveals the western coast of Svalbard to be a place of searing beauty and isolation, and extraordinary color. In a complex process, plaster reliefs are cast by the artist with fissures, disruptions and abrasions. The detailed information of Spatz-Rabinowitz’s photographs of the north pole, laid down as emulsions on her built reliefs, is variously enhanced or submerged by oil paint, forging an intimate bond between photography, painting and plaster, creating visceral metaphors for the dissolution of a disappearing landscape.
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Ghost, 2017, 23 x 55"
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
DETAIL: Ghost
STARVED GLACIER, 2017, 24 x 36 x 2”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
REMAINING ICEBERGS, 2017, 32 x 49 x 2”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
MELTING FROM BENEATH, 2016, 64 x 39 x 2” (tapering toward the bottom by over two inches)
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
MAROONED, 2015, 18 x 21 x 2”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
One of the earliest pieces, this cast plaster was so thin it was put through a printer to obtain the digital image, of which almost nothing now remains visible.
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
One of the earliest pieces, this cast plaster was so thin it was put through a printer to obtain the digital image, of which almost nothing now remains visible.
PULLED APART, 2015, 16 x 18 x 1.5”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Barely any of the original photograph is left visible here. Accidents from the transfer process create interruptions to the illusion of water.
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Barely any of the original photograph is left visible here. Accidents from the transfer process create interruptions to the illusion of water.
EARLY INDUSTRY IN THE ARCTIC, 2016, 36 x 48 x 2”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted with rusted steel plate on aluminum
An Arctic marble quarry in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard was abandoned in 1923 after only a dozen years. The reasons for its abandonment are still under discussion; what is clear is that the British detritus still remains there to rot.
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted with rusted steel plate on aluminum
An Arctic marble quarry in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard was abandoned in 1923 after only a dozen years. The reasons for its abandonment are still under discussion; what is clear is that the British detritus still remains there to rot.
DETAIL: EARLY INDUSTRY IN THE ARCTIC
DARK UNDERGROWTH, 2015, 12 x 18 x 1.5”
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
FLORIDA, 2015, 8 x 10 x 2"
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster and linen mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster and linen mounted on aluminum
ICE AND SNOW, 2015, 8 x 10
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on transferred photo emulsion on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
ALL WHITE, 2015, 8 x 10 x 1.5”
Oil on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
Oil on cast Hydrocal plaster mounted on aluminum
THIN ICE, 2017, 34 x 7 x 8”
Oil on pigmented Hydrocal plaster mounted on custom steel shelf
The title "Thin Ice" refers to the idea that when glaciers retreat or calve into the sea, what remains behind is moraine — an accumulation of rock debris similar in appearance to cast pigmented Hydrocal plaster.
Oil on pigmented Hydrocal plaster mounted on custom steel shelf
The title "Thin Ice" refers to the idea that when glaciers retreat or calve into the sea, what remains behind is moraine — an accumulation of rock debris similar in appearance to cast pigmented Hydrocal plaster.
CALVING, 2017, 8 x 5.5 x 8.5”
Oil on cast Hydrocal plaster
Oil on cast Hydrocal plaster