Judy Pfaff:
Transforming Traditions

Exhibition Statement

Pfaff saw this show as a “mini-retrospective” which she finds a bit ironic since 99% of her work is destroyed after it is displayed.

She has a very specific definition of “installation” which includes that the work is displayed once and then destroyed, that the piece is space specific – relates to interior space and location of place where installation is installed. She considers this a remake.

The SOU “installation” was originally installed in Provo Utah in 1999 at Brigham Young University – a Mormon institution. It was half of the installation – the other half being all white. The black and white is representative of the use Pfaff makes of the play between opposites – natural and artificial materials, inside and outside, left and right, dark and light. She had not worked with dark objects previously – most of her work being light and colorful. The dark grew out of her contemplation about religion (Mormon). The logs are over 1000 years old and came from a burn from wood logged 50-60 years ago in the State of Washington. She saw them while driving down the road. They were located in a circle. She had to have them. Her work is not political (environment) but she understands that people in the northwest might see them in that context.

Her pieces have personal relevance to her. Piece with crown is named after her gallery agent. (Honey Bee) The one piece is “her kitchen”. One piece is dedicated to her Hispanic neighbor who has 5 kids who are “hellions” but the mother is an “angel”. Photogravure: photographing: image through screen onto a sensitized surface that after development is etched on a copper plate. Printing technique.

She is very interested in physics – ideas of space, molecular structures. One doesn’t conceptualize from one thing but pulls billions of fragments together to make an informed judgment.

Works, noticeable in wall or free-standing pieces, generally start at a center and go outward.

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