Check out work by Judy Pfaff, an MacArthur Fellowship-receiving artist. Her gallerist describes her work as “rare combination of elegance and detritus.” -Rocket
Judy Pfaff is most well-known for her installation and sculpture, but her paper work is brilliant too. In addition to cut paper, she also uses materials as variable as coffee filters, silk flowers, wire, kite parts, dried gourds, black aluminum, and honeycomb packing material. One piece even lists “pressed fauna” as a material.
From a gallery that showed this work:
Judy Pfaff’s visually rich, texturally diverse, and psychologically complex subject matter consistently intrigues and delights viewers. Naturally curious, Pfaff has an innate ability to rejuvenate everyday objects into unusually striking visual matter. Her large scale multi-media works are a rare combination of elegance and detritus.
A disciplined hand and an affinity for problem-solving are evident in the execution of each work. Pfaff’s work achieves incredible strength and fluidity through the placement of individual materials that relate directly to the other objects within the frame, playing off of each other and ultimately making the whole effect stronger. In this exhibition, branches, wires, coffee filters and silk flowers are found within 8 x 8 feet aluminum frames.
Pfaff is inspired by the world that surrounds her. She constantly draws attention to the aesthetic surface, whether it is a weathered twig or a glossy colored sheet of paper.
Judy Pfaff is a Professor of Art at Bard College, New York and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient.
More at the Braunstein/Quay Gallery.
