Rebecca Lowry: AFTERTHOUGHTS

2-and 3-D text-based works
Wednesday, November 2, 2011 – Saturday, December 3, 2011
Opening Reception: Wednesday, November 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm

San Francisco, CA. Cain Schulte Contemporary Art is pleased to present a solo show by Rebecca Lowry. Using materials such as silk, printed paper, and c-print for her 2-D works, and cassette tape, twine, and steel chains for her 3-D pieces, Lowry's work is a form of object-based poetry. Her use of unusual materials combined with an emphasis on subtle texts reinforces the association between the physicality of the object and accompanying words.

For example, in the “Shogai” series, she visually transforms five Japanese haiku into barcodes inked on paper. In “Poem”, a c-print of Allen Ginsberg’s translation of Basho’s “old pond” haiku, she demonstrates careful attention to this poetic form. In “L’Etoile”, Lowry transcribes Braille text of “Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman” over a map of the Parisian night sky. In the margins, she records the scintillation index, or the measure of solar wind that causes the twinkling of stars. Using a vigorously exact approach, and by often using poems as basic element of a piece, Lowry examines every aspect of her work in the same way a poet manipulates every aspect of language - rhyme, alliteration, line endings, and spacing together with a manipulation of grammar.

In “Single Family Dwelling”, Lowry examines the role of day-to-day documents through the knitting of three sweaters made from shredded home purchase and mortgage contracts. In her public work project “Regard.”, Lowry installed eleven municipal signs containing haiku poems, rather than traffic instructions, in West Hollywood.

By engaging with the viewer on multiple levels, the works first invoke a visual and sensory quality, and then upon closer study, a deeper observation and consideration of ideas. Through perception, design, and context, Lowry plays with the understanding of her work, and explores the aesthetic of words and the relationship of their setting to an object’s inherent meaning.

All of these works stimulate a viewer’s thought by altering the common context of a word or object. This multidimensional reading of the work results in various interpretations upon each successive viewing. Where does meaning lie and at what point is meaning lost?

A reception for the artist will be held on Wednesday November 2, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm

Rebecca Lowry is a native of Northern California, She lived nearly a decade in Boston, Massachusetts, where she earned degrees at Boston University and Harvard’s Design School. While living in Zurich, Switzerland, she worked at the architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, which strongly influenced her engagement to visual art. She now makes her home in North East Los Angeles. Her work has been shown throughout Los Angeles and abroad. A public art installation of hers, REGARD., is currently on view throughout West Hollywood. Lowry is currently a lecturer at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture.