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Artist Statement - Dana Reisin
I deal with the relationship between the individual and society through the body, transience, decay, illness and healing, the temporality of existence, and the meaning of life. I challenge the artistic distinction between "high" and "low" by transforming banal materials into pure emotion. I turn reality into a childlike, dreamlike, and surreal space created through the use of strong, bright colors, alongside objects and images detached from their natural context.
I seek to find meaning in seemingly worthless things—objects meant to disappear after their use is finished become my creative materials. Everyday materials: industrial reproductions, consumer goods, plastic bags, fibers, and threads. Temporary products that have expired, are mass-produced, and lack financial value, yet still take up space in the world. Their orphanhood, fragility, and delicacy awaken in me a desire to protect them from being ignored and forgotten.
I work in a variety of mediums: sculpture, painting, sewing, video, collage, and assemblage—with formal abundance and colorful richness. I am afraid of the void. I am afraid of leaving a blank page behind. I am afraid of not being seen, of fading away. I create many holes and try to fill them. My artistic action is laborious and automatic. Through repetitive, endless, meditative movements, my mind is distracted by the act of production. Production creates a space of processing and comfort for me—through giving meaning and existence. Thus, I make my voice heard and make myself present.
My creative process involves the obsessive collection of objects and knowledge. The desire to learn and the inability to let go are simultaneously my pleasure and my suffering. My works reflect suffering, wrapped in a colorful envelope, and carry a comforting and optimistic message of the possibility of repair and healing.
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