Press Release: Sharon Engelstein

New Works: 02.2
07.11.02

New Works: 02.2

July 11 ?ptember 8, 2002

Sharon Engelstein Houston, TX

Arthur Jafa New York, NY

Ann-Sofi SidŽn Stockholm, Sweden

Selected by Valerie Cassel

About the Artist

Born in 1965 in Montreal, Canada, Sharon Engelstein currently lives and works in
Houston, TX. Engelstein earned a BFA in Mass Communication/Journalism and
Sculpture at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL (1987), and a MFA in
Sculpture at Claremont Graduate School, CA (1990). Engelstein has exhibited
widely throughout the US, including solo exhibitions at Locust Projects, Miami, FL
(2002); the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (2001); and
Sala Diaz, San Antonio, TX (2000); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX;
Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (1996); and the Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago, IL
(1992). Engelstein has been included in group exhibitions at the University of
South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa (2002); Exit Art, New York, NY
(2001); Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA (1999); and Los Angeles
Contemporary Exhibitions, CA (1996). She was a Core Fellow at Glassell School
of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX. In addition she has received
awards from the Cultural Arts Council of Houston, TX., Louis Comfort Tiffany,
and the National Endowment for the Art.

Sharon Engelstein was selected for the 02.2 residency by Valerie Cassel.
Valerie Cassel is an Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum,
Houston, TX. Prior to her position at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Cassel
was the director of the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago (1996-2001) and Program Specialist at the National Endowment for the
Arts (1988-1995). In 2000, she served as co-curator of the Biennial Exhibition at
the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

About the Project

Engelstein's curious sculptures hover between abstraction and representation,
between function and fiction. While her technique of execution has varied over
the years, her forms have maintained a certain hybrid identity. The bloated
molecular sculptures seem to originate from animal and plant bodies as well as
other organic forms.

Through the investigation of suggestive yet non-specific shapes, Engelstein
began adding technological elements that reflected contemporary culture, often
overlaying the forms with urban or industrial references. The globular shapes or
Booleans as Engelstein calls them, vary in size and material. While some
are fashioned as inflated hollow cavities, others are presented as solid masses of
plaster, foam, polyurethane, or vinyl-coated nylon, some even decorated with
sequins.

Engelstein's recent work evolves from design exploration which utilizes
Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software to create and manipulate sculptural
forms in the virtual space of the computer. To realize the objects in physical
space, the computerized drawings are subsequently output through Computer-
Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and electronically transmitted for automated
fabrication. Revealing little proof of their process, the completed three-
dimensional objects are perfectly formed, geometrically constructed equivalents
of the initial plan. For Engelstein this merging organic? drawn forms?
technological? computer process?ates an intersection between nature
and science. The resulting air-filled large-scale sculptures are anthropomorphic
hybrids.

During her residency at ArtPace, Engelstein continues her investigation of
inflatable vinyl sculpture but here eliminates the fabricator opting instead for a
hands-on approach. In response to the context of the residency, Engelstein
turned her studio into a working laboratory?entionally creating an environment
that would facilitate this move back to an acute and intimate process of
execution.

From the state-of-the-art computerized design programs to the traditional
mechanics of a sewing machine, Engelstein is once again fusing the hand with
the apparatus. Via the collaboration and consulting assistance of Chris Lund
(Industrial Designer) and Mark Neumann (Custom Computer Workstations),
Engelstein worked with a new computer program, designing and patterning her
sculptures?wing them intuitively, sewing as she went. Despite the use of an
industrial nylon fabric, the artist's choice of fresh, pastel hues suggests a playful
intimacy evident in Engelstein's work. Previously the physical characteristics of
the sculptures were known due to their flawless technological construction.
However, this current body of work emerged from an intuitive but uncertain
process of creation which allowed the artist to anticipate the peculiar physical
outcome of these sculptural forms. Engelstein approaches this work more
crudely with results that differ from her precisely manufactured, computer-
generated sculpture

Exhibition sponsored in part by Jeanne and Mickey Klein.

Exhibition Dates

July 11 ?tember 8, 2002

Opening Reception

Thursday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 PM

Artists' Dialogue

Friday, July 12, 6:30-8:00 PM

Featuring Sharon Engelstein, Arthur Jafa, and Ann-Sofi SidŽn Moderated by
Valerie Cassel Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston,
TX.

Brown Bag Lunch

Wednesday, August 21, 2002, 12:00-1:00 PM

Join us for a tour of New Works: 02.2 and a brown bag lunch provided by
Pecan Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Locations

All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street
and Savings. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM,
Thursday until 8 PM and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org