Marking Time
A new installation by Erika Knerr
15 June – 14 July at Lance Fung Gallery, 537 Broadway
Reception for the artist: Thursday, 15 June, 6 – 8 PM
Marking Time, a solo exhibition of new work by Process artist, Erika Knerr, opens June 15th at Lance Fung Gallery. In her current exhibition Erika Knerr explores her personal issue of longing for a child and opens the dialogue of this unspoken conversation. Issues of obsessions, guilt, and desire accompany emotions of anticipation, emptiness, and loneliness.
As Joshua Selman mentions in his review for New York Arts magazine, “I left the exhibition with a sense of satisfaction realizing how it covered such a wide range of issues encompassing the human condition, personal investigation, and artistic prowess. After experiencing the installation as an incredible work of art one could not avoid feeling the conviction in the artists attempt to open the taboo topic of longing for a child. In this powerful show one has a myriad of emotions ranging from excitement and expectation, to anxiety and disappointment.”
Knerr has spent the past two years creating dyed paintings concentrating on issues of fertility. For this remarkable installation the artist sews together these individual paintings with quilting squares from various friendship quilts collected from Lancaster, PA. Adapting an Amish bars pattern, Knerr joins these elements to create a 750 square foot quilt like structure. She then surprises us by suspending the quilt from the ceiling creating a womb like environment. The four corners of the quilt are mounted to the ceiling through the use of separate pulley’s allowing the natural weight and life of the quilt to take on the form of a bellied stomach. The giant quilt takes on an architectural quality as the artist can raise and lower the structure depending on the tension of the pulleys. Depending on the time of day and light quality the quilt may hover close to the ceiling while at other times the quilt is lowered forcing the viewer to bend over while crossing the empty gallery space.
Despite the powerful installation, the artist confronts the personal issue of fertility. She quietly discusses this issue and related emotions not as a political platform but rather as . While the exhibition is beautiful and strong a sense of shame and embarrassment lingers within the veiled depth of such a poignant topic. The artist illustrates that one cannot escape their own innermost desires and pressures.