Rebecca Ward: thickly sliced
CAM Raleigh is proud to present the first U.S. Museum show of commissioned works by New York-based artist Rebecca Ward.
I think about space all the time, how people interact with their surroundings, how we create environments that suit us. Architecture would be meaningless without people.
–artist Rebecca Ward
CAM Raleigh is proud to present Texas born artist Rebecca Ward in her largest museum exhibition to date. Her exhibition, thickly sliced, transforms the Independent Weekly Gallery, creating unexpected pathways that inspire visitors to reconsider how we perceive our surroundings.
Ward’s site-specific works are intricate and thoughtfully planned geometric installations applied to an interior in a way that comments on the site’s architecture. Ward’s signature medium is tape — be it electrical tape, duct tape or masking tape. Through this medium she explores the unique structures of the sites in which her installations are situated. Ward’s installation embraces all aspects of the gallery space, utilizing the intimate nooks between columns and walls that might otherwise go unnoticed. She has taken the most basic art element, the humble line, and lifted it into three dimensions. She allows a framework of lines to move intently through the gallery, making sharp angles to continue purposely along their path. The gallery columns are now clothed with bright red and yellow stripes, transforming both line and space.
The walls and floors of a room act as a multi-dimensional canvas to display the lines of my installation. Similarly, paintings hold the same architectural qualities as walls and floors. The edges of a canvas act as architecture much as a column or support beam does in a room. -–artist Rebecca Ward
Ward created a colorful gallery that is immediately playful with its circuslike stripes and dizzying grids. Further consideration reveals a deliberate plan and underlying structure to the works. The linear compositions are a picture of control and tension. Weight, stickiness and span are all carefully considered. Even slack loops suspended from the ceiling exude tension, their exposed adhesive threatening to bond with anything given the chance. Process oriented, Ward’s fascination with her materials shows through her unapologetic display of their inherent qualities. She lets tape be sticky, canvas be wrinkly.
Careful execution coupled with chaos, the works are still an exercise in chance. A beautiful contradiction to all this tension and stickiness is the works’ impermanence. Ward’s site-specific artworks are designed to be temporary. Working in this manner allows Ward to remain unattached, to let go of a perceived preciousness of artwork.
When you’re trying to make something that lasts forever, is archival, and is marketable, that’s a lot to handle. If that pressure was taken off all artwork, can you imagine what we would make? –artist Rebecca Ward
This is the second exhibition in the Emerging Artist Series in the Independent Weekly Gallery.
Download Rebecca Ward Gallery Guide
Artist Talk
Gallery talk Friday, October 7, 2011 at 7 p.m. Free with admission.
Ward will be leading a tape and design workshop for high-school students on Saturday October 8, 2011. For more information on the workshop email nicole_welch@camraleigh.ncsu.edu, registration fee is $30 per student.
About the Emerging Artist Series
CAM Raleigh is the only museum in the region with a dedicated gallery for emerging artists and designers. Through exhibiting emerging artists whose work is still in progress and fresh from the studio, CAM Raleigh celebrates the diversity of artistic expression and places the artist at the center of the community. The museum supports early career contemporary artists in an atmosphere where they are encouraged to foster a cross-fertilization of ideas and dynamic interaction with visitors. Visitors from all walks of life will often have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with the artists celebrated in this series. CAM Raleigh’s Independent Weekly Gallery features the Emerging Artist Series.
Press Coverage
All About Tape – August 29
There’s Tape Art, Then There’s Tape Art
Independent Weekly – August 24
Rebecca Ward’s tape installation transforms CAM Raleigh
NC State College of Design, DesignLife – August 6
CAM Raleigh presents first U.S. museum show of commissioned works by Rebecca Ward
nc artblog – August 2
A Tale of the Tape at CAM Raleigh
Art Daily – August 1
CAM Raleigh Presents First U.S. Museum Show of Commissioned Works by Artist Rebecca Ward
Museum Publicity – August 1
CAM Raleigh Opens Rebecca Ward Show of Commissioned Works
New Raleigh – July 29
Rebecca Ward Opens at CAM
For the Press
Download Ward Press Release
Download Images for Press
Press, please contact elysia_borowy@camraleigh.ncsu.edu for high res images for publication.