Tara Donavan is a New York based artist, best known for her unique way of using ordinary and plain items as the underlying concept for her sculptures. She was born in 1969, in Flushing, Queens. Donavan grew up in Blauvelt, a small town in New York, about 30 miles outside of New York City. She attended the School of Visual Arts, New York, in 1987-88, but it wasn 't until 1991 when she received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC. Eight years later, Donavan went back and earned her Masters of fine arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her first show at Hemphill Fine Arts, in Washington, DC was a huge success and inspired her to quit her bartending job and solely focus on art. Donavan has been represented
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Meaning, she aims to create large-scale or endless spectacles out of common items. Her works are biomorphic pieces of art that repeat naturally occurring patterns and shapes; and expands that to the extreme. To summarize her artist statement, Tara Donavan wants to experiment with the use of material as well as the process of specific repetition in her art. She spends time playing with the idea that art can be manufactured and expanded to the point that the supply of materials that seems limitless. Her practice encompasses a range of customs that focus on commercial and industrial materials; and pushing them into the realm of abstract …show more content…
This work is permanently displayed in the Milwaukee art Museum. Donavan’s bluffs from a distance appear to be abstract forms mimicking coral reefs, cave structures, or crystalline towers. The figure moves upward in a sinuous shape that shows natural movement. Upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that she used hundreds of thousands of shirt buttons and glue to create her piece. The buttons flow instinctively and grow upwards in their own fashion. These individual buttons are colorless, but as the light moves throughout the sculpture the entity appears a dusty rose color or gray. The color changes based on the angle in which you are viewing the piece. Each viewer sees the piece from a different perspective with different lighting qualities, so it is never the same piece. I value Donavan’s ability to look at a simple clear button and imagine a beautiful and unique
Meaning, she aims to create large-scale or endless spectacles out of common items. Her works are biomorphic pieces of art that repeat naturally occurring patterns and shapes; and expands that to the extreme. To summarize her artist statement, Tara Donavan wants to experiment with the use of material as well as the process of specific repetition in her art. She spends time playing with the idea that art can be manufactured and expanded to the point that the supply of materials that seems limitless. Her practice encompasses a range of customs that focus on commercial and industrial materials; and pushing them into the realm of abstract …show more content…
This work is permanently displayed in the Milwaukee art Museum. Donavan’s bluffs from a distance appear to be abstract forms mimicking coral reefs, cave structures, or crystalline towers. The figure moves upward in a sinuous shape that shows natural movement. Upon closer inspection it becomes apparent that she used hundreds of thousands of shirt buttons and glue to create her piece. The buttons flow instinctively and grow upwards in their own fashion. These individual buttons are colorless, but as the light moves throughout the sculpture the entity appears a dusty rose color or gray. The color changes based on the angle in which you are viewing the piece. Each viewer sees the piece from a different perspective with different lighting qualities, so it is never the same piece. I value Donavan’s ability to look at a simple clear button and imagine a beautiful and unique