REVIEW: Tara Donovan & the Quotidian Object
Michaela Krzyszton
Tara Donovan perfectly exemplifies the use of the quotidian object in her art making practice. Common day objects such as plastic straws, Styrofoam cups and toothpicks are often overlooked as merely objects that meet the needs of society. In Tara Donovan’s eyes, these quotidian objects become the inspiration and medium of her extensive installations. Donovan cleverly uses copious amounts of her chosen medium and assembles them in various patterns or forms. This repetition inevitably forms large-scale installations of what seems to create organic masses or structures. To imagine the process of creating her artworks, the words come to mind; “painstaking” and “laborious”. She uses the pattern and form of the original object to create alien-like structures which distract from the quotidian piece until viewed up close.
Michaela Krzyszton
Tara Donovan perfectly exemplifies the use of the quotidian object in her art making practice. Common day objects such as plastic straws, Styrofoam cups and toothpicks are often overlooked as merely objects that meet the needs of society. In Tara Donovan’s eyes, these quotidian objects become the inspiration and medium of her extensive installations. Donovan cleverly uses copious amounts of her chosen medium and assembles them in various patterns or forms. This repetition inevitably forms large-scale installations of what seems to create organic masses or structures. To imagine the process of creating her artworks, the words come to mind; “painstaking” and “laborious”. She uses the pattern and form of the original object to create alien-like structures which distract from the quotidian piece until viewed up close.
Her work’s visual impact also depends on the space that it is created for. The pieces are inevitably integrated into the gallery or exhibition they are shown at. For example “Transplanted”, constructed from the common road material tar, has been repositioned from being in a generic room at the Ace gallery (New York) to outside in the IBM Exhibition Space. Both of these architectural spaces change the meaning and aesthetic of the object and inextricably create a relationship between space and art.
The viewer also holds an important role in her works. For example in her installation “Haze”,(2003) it visually gives the impression of a thick fog but in actual fact the artwork is constructed with hundreds of thousands of translucent drinking straws. They all convene at various levels against a wall giving the impression of a moving and bulging fog or misty vapor.
This vast landscape of straws contrasts against the more intricate artwork “Untitled” (Fishing Line) 2003. The work represents a microscopic formation; like something that would be found in a sea bed. This idea links in with her chosen medium as she cleverly used fishing line to create these intricate forms.
Tara Donovan exquisitely forms a link between the manufactured and the natural, the familiar and the unknown all through the use of the quotidian object.
Book References:
- Eleanor Heartney, Art and Today
London : Phaidon, 2008
Art and the Quotidian Object
Web References:
Photos taken from: http://www.acegallery.net/artistmenu.php?Artist=8
-First Photo: # 31 of 58 Tara Donovan images
Transplanted, 2001 DetailRipped & Stacked Tarpaper33' 8 1/4"(H) x 24' 6 1/2"(W) x 2' 8"(D)Ace Gallery New York
Transplanted, 2001 DetailRipped & Stacked Tarpaper33' 8 1/4"(H) x 24' 6 1/2"(W) x 2' 8"(D)Ace Gallery New York
-Second photo: # 2 of 58 Tara Donovan images
Haze, 2003 Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws12' 7"(H) x 42' 2"(W) 7 3/4"(D)Ace Gallery New York
Haze, 2003 Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws12' 7"(H) x 42' 2"(W) 7 3/4"(D)Ace Gallery New York
-Third Photo: # 2 of 58 Tara Donovan images
Haze, 2003 Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws12' 7"(H) x 42' 2"(W) 7 3/4"(D)Ace Gallery New York
Haze, 2003 Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws12' 7"(H) x 42' 2"(W) 7 3/4"(D)Ace Gallery New York
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