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Jahjehan
Bath Ives
In the Garden
A
new installation
February 4 to 19, 2005
The idea of Eden
is intriguing, it's the climate in which innocence was both born and
lost. In the Garden started with this idea, of how the carefree
gestures of individuals can have consequences they could not conceive
of. When we dance we let go of ourselves and react to the music, the
mood, the setting. Interested in exploring what is communicated in
these freed gestures, Ives asked friends and strangers to dance for
her and to allow her to photograph them. The resulting photographs
were then edited, translated into line drawings and set into the
backdrop of a florid wallpaper pattern to create a garden where
figures dance alone or together and create their own stories. Their
actions take on a new meaning in the environment composed of a
multitude of figures.
A unique
component of Ives work involves the use of cut-outs to render shadows
on blank walls. Ives cuts shapes from translucent mylar, attaches the
cut-outs close to the wall with straight pins and lets the play of
light and shadow complete the work. "Her low-tech medium is
highly effective. She traces images from (photographs) onto mylar,
cuts the contours with an x-acto knife to about 1/8 inch 'lines'. A
remarkable amount of detail remains -- the shape of a shoe, the arch
of an eyebrow. . . . it's the shadows -- animated by the slightest
movement in the air -- that the eye sees."
The shadows are a
fundamental part of her work. The play between the physical and the
intangible; the shadow cannot exist without the physical cut-out and
sometimes the physical cut-out fades into nothingness without the
shadow. In this new installation Ives has taken the opportunity to
build upon her exploration of the shadow. Using a video projection as
the light source for the cut-outs Ives has introduced a moving
component to the installation. The video interjects scattered
silhouettes of people dancing onto the wallpaper. The video was shot
by Jahjehan Bath Ives and was engineered by Joe Ives.
Jahjehan Bath
Ives was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA but she has called
Houston, TX home for the past three years. She received her BFA from
The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA (1999). Her solo
exhibitions include "Perhaps…Perhaps…Perhaps" at Daniel
Martinez Gallery in Munich, Germany (2004); "Surface for
Air" at Mackey Gallery in Houston, TX (2004); "Home is
Where" at Project Row Houses in Houston, TX (2004);
"Unspoken" at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, TX (2003); and
more. Her work can be found in the collections of Yale University, the
New York Public Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as
numerous private collections. She is represented in Houston by Mackey
Gallery and in Germany by Daniel Martinez Gallery.
Information for
attached image: detail of In the Garden, 2005 by Jahjehan Bath
Ives. media: shadow, projected video, mylar, pins
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