A continuing thread runs through all my work in paper and it is that I have always pushed the boundaries for the tolerance paper shows in accepting mechanical, chemical and environmental applications. It is as though I was trying to prove that paper is suitable to be a stand in for the human condition and our resilience to life’s forces and stresses. In the Devastation Series, each weather condition not only looks like the natural disaster is happening in the landscape, but in most cases, the action of that weather condition has been used to distress the paper. I actually used techniques for treating the paper analogous to the forces of nature acting on the environment: sand blasting (Sand Storm), soaking the paper in water (Erosion), burning (Fire). This was predictive of today’s focus on the impact of extreme weather.
A closer look at the devastation from the Environmental Degradation series
The Devastation Series –
by representing and replicating natural process on static works of art and juxtaposing the artwork with the processes at work in nature, underscores the current environmental crisis. The video shows how the work was inspired by nature and also imbues the artwork (which endures after the moving images on the screen are gone) with the power and magnitude of what has been revealed. Visit Sandy at Sandybleifer.com
We visited (our neighbor) Sandy’s Venice beach art studio on various occasions. It is a lively and bright, happy space. Sandy told us that Los Angeles is the best place to live and produce work. When we asked her where her favorite place is in Los Angeles, her reply was “Downtown,” and her two favorite places to take visitors are the Watts Tower and The Natural History Museum. Watch the making of the Devastation series below: