CAROLINE LATHAN-STIEFEL
Through September 2

Caroline Lathan-Stiefel (PA) creates “drawings-in-space” using incongruous materials. She writes: “My work involves both the slow, plodding movement of patching pieces of cloth and plastic to linear structures made of pipe cleaners, as well as quicker, more gestural actions that connect all of the parts into systems, making large suspended sculptures.”

Monumental in scale and intensely colored and textured, her work aims to viscerally affect viewers’ sensations. Her installations take various forms: parasitic-like growths that cover interior architectural elements and outdoor structures; hanging tent forms; suspended walls that curve and divide spaces; and excessive, organic masses that transform rooms into caves.

In Acanthus Climbing, Lathan-Stiefel references the Mediterranean plant masterfully carved and presented on the capitals of Greek Corinthian columns. Offering something antithetical to such chiseled perfection, the artist celebrates a democratizing artistic process called “deskilling.” This is a conscious rejection of the mastery of a traditional medium or craft such as carving sculptures from marble or drawing realistically from life. In doing so, Lathan-Stiefel deflects attention from outmoded issues of artistic genius and instead, highlights the infinite, imaginative possibilities of the line.