CONSTELLATIONS I DREW IN NEVADA
MARTHA TUTTLE
LUCE GALLERY
Turin
from 17 September to 24 October 2020
In Turin, from 17 September to 24 October 2020, Luce Gallery presents the solo show “Constellations I drew in Nevada” of Martha Tuttle.
The exhibition brings together especially conceived pieces, that investigate the matter capturing ephemeral nuances of time and nature.
As the American artist’s statement explains, the paintings emerged from drawings she made of the night sky during a residency in the Great Basin Desert. In rural Nevada in 2019, she did not have access to the Internet or phone service, so the clusters she observed were the stars she imagined to be in relation to one another.
Tuttle experiences the limit between abstract painting and textile art by layering different fabrics into geometric compositions, which she colors with natural pigments obtained from minerals. On wooden frames of various sizes, the combinations of translucent linen and her hand-spun sheep's wool seem to have their own luminescence, while their fragmentation preserves space for the imagination.
The works on the walls relate to the night sky and interact with small sculptures created with Carrara marble and glass stones specially-made in the Venetian island of Murano, which represent the desert ground.
Artist statement
“The paintings in Constellations I drew in Nevadaemerged from drawings I made of the night sky during an artist residency in the Great Basin Desert (in rural Nevada) in 2019. I did not have access to the internet or phone service, so the clusters I drew were stars I imagined to be in relation to one another, rather than mythological or historical groupings.
Everywhere in the Great Basin is a scattering of stone, of petrified wood, of bleached animal bones. The sculptures of stone and glass throughout this exhibition relate to the desert ground, the paintings to the night sky.
The following is a diary entry from that time:
August 29th, 2020, The Montello Foundation, Nevada
Quite an eventful night last night. A windstorm blew though this stretch of basin rattling the house and making a significant racket. The anxiety of the night made me quite sure it would blow the wildfires right to my door. But it the morning, everything was as it was.
This morning, virga, all around. I can’t remember- is sepulcher the smell of rain before it comes? I’ve been thinking a lot about beauty, what it is, how it translates into physical form. I feel most beautiful when I soften, let go of expectations, let go of the rigid boundary between myself and the world. The most beautiful things, I believe, can appear to be ugly with only a short twist of light. I think this is because they are a responsive to, intertwined with the world they breath in.
In the desert one’s boundaries dissolve. Loneliness is not so much of an issue because one becomes also dust, also light. Everything passes through you all the time. High altitude deserts near mountains- this is my home. How can I construct a life where I can always come back here?
Here, I confuse my heartbeat with the sound of an approaching truck. I collect rocks and they slip through my overladen hands- everywhere a treasure. The counters of mountains are like the curves and dips of a body- the grasses droop and leave semi-circle drawings when the wind blows them. A desert of brutality is not the desert that I have known.
Yesterday, I saw a square rainbow held in a pocket of a cloud. I made dye from juniper berries and an old mordant recipe using juniper needle ash. I sat with what I didn’t know. I drew constellations in the sky and looked for their counterparts in the holes dug by insects and animals in the ground. I find myself more and more trusting the land, listening to the wind. I rub sage between my hands and breath in. The words from John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charleyplay over and over again in my head- “the desert has mothered magical things”.
When I dream, I dream of people When I dream, I dream of people I have known.”
Martha Tuttle (1989, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. The American artist earned her MFA from The Yale School of Art. In 2017 she was selected for the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program and in 2019 was a recipient of the Rauschenberg Residency. Her work is included in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Currently, from 15 July to 9 November 2020, her solo show at Storm King Art Center presents the project “A stone that thinks of Enceladus”, which she created for the Outlooks program of the outdoor museum located in New York’s Hudson Valley.
The video featuring the exhibition walkthrough guided by the artist’s voice is available onlineat www.lucegallery.com/video.php.
Constellations I drew in Nevada
Martha Tuttle
Luce Gallery
Turin, from 17 September to 24 October 2020
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 3:30 - 7:30 pm
+39 011 18890206
info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Facebook: Luce Gallery
Online videos featuring exhibitions walkthroughs guided by the artists: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com
+39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com
Exhibition views, Constellations I drew in Nevada, Martha Tuttle’ solo show, Luce Gallery, Turin, 2020, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, A bit of light moves in the sky, 2019-20, wool, linen, graphite, quartz, glass, alabaster, chalcedony, overall dimension 223 x 237 cm, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, A bit of light moves in the sky, 2019-20, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Constellations I drew in Nevada I, 2020, angled view, detail, Carrara marble and Murano glass stones sculpture, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Constellations I drew in Nevada V, 2020, angled view, detail, Carrara marble and Murano glass stones sculpture, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Silence, 2020, diptych, wool, linen, silk, pigment, 40,5 x 30,5 cm each one, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, I love you so, I wrote in stone, 2020, wool, linen, silk, pigment, alabaster, 141.5 x 199.3 cm, variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, I love you so, I wrote in stone, 2020, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Windstorm, 2020, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Windstorm, 2020, wool, linen, pigment, aluminum coated slag, quartz, 130 x 249 cm, variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Basin, 2020, wool, linen, silk, pigment, 116.8 x 78.6 cm, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
CONSTELLATIONS I DREW IN NEVADA
MARTHA TUTTLE
LUCE GALLERY
Turin
from 17 September to 24 October 2020
In Turin, from 17 September to 24 October 2020, Luce Gallery presents the solo show “Constellations I drew in Nevada” of Martha Tuttle.
The exhibition brings together especially conceived pieces, that investigate the matter capturing ephemeral nuances of time and nature.
As the American artist’s statement explains, the paintings emerged from drawings she made of the night sky during a residency in the Great Basin Desert. In rural Nevada in 2019, she did not have access to the Internet or phone service, so the clusters she observed were the stars she imagined to be in relation to one another.
Tuttle experiences the limit between abstract painting and textile art by layering different fabrics into geometric compositions, which she colors with natural pigments obtained from minerals. On wooden frames of various sizes, the combinations of translucent linen and her hand-spun sheep's wool seem to have their own luminescence, while their fragmentation preserves space for the imagination.
The works on the walls relate to the night sky and interact with small sculptures created with Carrara marble and glass stones specially-made in the Venetian island of Murano, which represent the desert ground.
Artist statement
“The paintings in Constellations I drew in Nevadaemerged from drawings I made of the night sky during an artist residency in the Great Basin Desert (in rural Nevada) in 2019. I did not have access to the internet or phone service, so the clusters I drew were stars I imagined to be in relation to one another, rather than mythological or historical groupings.
Everywhere in the Great Basin is a scattering of stone, of petrified wood, of bleached animal bones. The sculptures of stone and glass throughout this exhibition relate to the desert ground, the paintings to the night sky.
The following is a diary entry from that time:
August 29th, 2020, The Montello Foundation, Nevada
Quite an eventful night last night. A windstorm blew though this stretch of basin rattling the house and making a significant racket. The anxiety of the night made me quite sure it would blow the wildfires right to my door. But it the morning, everything was as it was.
This morning, virga, all around. I can’t remember- is sepulcher the smell of rain before it comes? I’ve been thinking a lot about beauty, what it is, how it translates into physical form. I feel most beautiful when I soften, let go of expectations, let go of the rigid boundary between myself and the world. The most beautiful things, I believe, can appear to be ugly with only a short twist of light. I think this is because they are a responsive to, intertwined with the world they breath in.
In the desert one’s boundaries dissolve. Loneliness is not so much of an issue because one becomes also dust, also light. Everything passes through you all the time. High altitude deserts near mountains- this is my home. How can I construct a life where I can always come back here?
Here, I confuse my heartbeat with the sound of an approaching truck. I collect rocks and they slip through my overladen hands- everywhere a treasure. The counters of mountains are like the curves and dips of a body- the grasses droop and leave semi-circle drawings when the wind blows them. A desert of brutality is not the desert that I have known.
Yesterday, I saw a square rainbow held in a pocket of a cloud. I made dye from juniper berries and an old mordant recipe using juniper needle ash. I sat with what I didn’t know. I drew constellations in the sky and looked for their counterparts in the holes dug by insects and animals in the ground. I find myself more and more trusting the land, listening to the wind. I rub sage between my hands and breath in. The words from John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charleyplay over and over again in my head- “the desert has mothered magical things”.
When I dream, I dream of people When I dream, I dream of people I have known.”
Martha Tuttle (1989, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. The American artist earned her MFA from The Yale School of Art. In 2017 she was selected for the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program and in 2019 was a recipient of the Rauschenberg Residency. Her work is included in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Currently, from 15 July to 9 November 2020, her solo show at Storm King Art Center presents the project “A stone that thinks of Enceladus”, which she created for the Outlooks program of the outdoor museum located in New York’s Hudson Valley.
The video featuring the exhibition walkthrough guided by the artist’s voice is available onlineat www.lucegallery.com/video.php.
Constellations I drew in Nevada
Martha Tuttle
Luce Gallery
Turin, from 17 September to 24 October 2020
Largo Montebello 40, Italy
Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 3:30 - 7:30 pm
+39 011 18890206
info@lucegallery.com
Instagram: lucegallery
Facebook: Luce Gallery
Online videos featuring exhibitions walkthroughs guided by the artists: www.lucegallery.com/video.php
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO
Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com
+39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com
www.theknackstudio.com
Exhibition views, Constellations I drew in Nevada, Martha Tuttle’ solo show, Luce Gallery, Turin, 2020, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, A bit of light moves in the sky, 2019-20, wool, linen, graphite, quartz, glass, alabaster, chalcedony, overall dimension 223 x 237 cm, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, A bit of light moves in the sky, 2019-20, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Constellations I drew in Nevada I, 2020, angled view, detail, Carrara marble and Murano glass stones sculpture, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Constellations I drew in Nevada V, 2020, angled view, detail, Carrara marble and Murano glass stones sculpture, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Silence, 2020, diptych, wool, linen, silk, pigment, 40,5 x 30,5 cm each one, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, I love you so, I wrote in stone, 2020, wool, linen, silk, pigment, alabaster, 141.5 x 199.3 cm, variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Windstorm, 2020, wool, linen, pigment, aluminum coated slag, quartz, 130 x 249 cm, variable dimensions, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, I love you so, I wrote in stone, 2020, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Windstorm, 2020, detail, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
Martha Tuttle, Basin, 2020, wool, linen, silk, pigment, 116.8 x 78.6 cm, Courtesy the artist and Luce Gallery, Turin, Photo Andrea Ferrari
