SEEKING PLACE: Simple Objects telling stories | MaRae Wylde

SEEKING PLACE: Simple Objects telling stories.

BY MACRAE WYLDE

Gallery Exhibit| MAY 1 - 24 | WED-SUN, NOON - 5 PM 

Pigment objects and sculpture built from color gathered off the ground. Platforms for color. A quiet reminder that we all come from somewhere.

Dirt, rock, clay, mud, found in different places, all having unique identifiable characteristics. It is important because it comes from somewhere, we all come from somewhere. It is part of the story, not the plot but a theme that shapes the novel. Where something comes from, its origins will always be evident.

It is also important because I saw it, and for some reason, stopped to pick it up. Was it the color, or that it was accessible? The beginning of these pieces was the random collection of colored rock. I did my first show of pigment panels over thirty years ago. Something triggered the desire to collect color again, enough to make it part of any trip. Not essential, but a possibility, that if I came across a good color, I would think to stop, and have a way to collect it.

The pieces are platforms for color. Forms and shapes designed to make you see the color, not alone, but next to something else. It could be the wall behind a panel, or the space around a sculpture. It could be something that you see through a piece, for they are intended to be seen together so each one has both its origins and its own character. They are unique and yet related. Deceptively simple, work that captures your attention with color and form, drawing you in, then giving a platform for contemplation.

We all come from somewhere. We all breathe air and drink water. Simply being human gives us more in common than any differences can divide.

There is no way to escape from the times we live in. I am deeply affected by the daily barrage of injustice and cruelty that occurs. This body of work is not an escape, but a reminder, that we all come from somewhere. We all breathe air and drink water. A reminder that simply being human gives us more in common than any differences can divide. The land we walk on has both a shared beauty and an implied conservation.

About the Artist

MacRae is a sculptor and pigment artist whose work has shown widely across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, with public installations in Auburn, Washington; Vincennes, Indiana; and The Dalles, Oregon. Born in Boston in 1964, he studied at Colorado College, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the College of Santa Fe, and the International School of Art in Umbria, Italy, with additional training at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building.