STEPHANIE SYPSA at THE RIFFE
At the Riffe Gallery's Connections II, Ohioans Abroad exhibit STEPHANIE SYPSA's images serve as striking talismans for Women's History Month. Or Herstory month!
ENCLOSED IN GRAY MATTER I. consists of progressive images, three presentations of a young woman's vintage, somewhat colorless, face on three separate 8x10 inch papers. The first image is stark, earnest, unembellished. The second and third reprints of the same face have acquired overlays, marks,. . .symbols. Although Sypsa wants to convey the idea of "vintage" --the collar, the sweet earnest visage, the hair drawn back, parted in the middle--she has chosen images that lend themselves to chronological ambiguity. She suggests , I think, that we, as women, are stamped, or patterned, by cultures and events.
Superimposed marks, blocks, patterns--suggest the necessity of women to conform at home or in the work place. Yet, the same repetition can also symbolize the power of connection. Combining photography, xerox, prints,reprints and overlays,
with--graph paper, clear plastic, straight pins, and yes, thread --Sypsa conveys aspects of regularity and repetition, even factory work.
In the haunting AFTER IMAGE OF A YOUNG GIRL, photo lithograph, pins on paper, (24 x 36 inches) a single , indefinite , woman figure glows.--Well, part of the woman's face glows! So does part of her arm, and a purse--or midriff--no matter.
The purple-black-wine-velvet- background dominates, envelopes the woman.--Yet she shines thru! Her environment is Jung's "Dark" . Standing inside it, the woman calls to us from a distance,from the past, most likely. Thru stark , nearly primitive , rendering
the young girl becomes iconic, archetypal We can imbue her with meaning: Our mothers, their mothers,our sisters, our selves.
Sypsa earned her bachelor of arts at Columbus College of Art and Design in 2004. She has done free lance work for the Columbus Museum of Art and has taught continu
ing education classes for CCAD. In 2006 she took part in an Ohio Arts Council international residency at the Dresden Graphic workshop in Dresden Germany. She is a gallery assistant and preparator at the Riffe Gallery. Her phone interview follows.--Happy Women's Day, everyone!
ENCLOSED IN GRAY MATTER I. consists of progressive images, three presentations of a young woman's vintage, somewhat colorless, face on three separate 8x10 inch papers. The first image is stark, earnest, unembellished. The second and third reprints of the same face have acquired overlays, marks,. . .symbols. Although Sypsa wants to convey the idea of "vintage" --the collar, the sweet earnest visage, the hair drawn back, parted in the middle--she has chosen images that lend themselves to chronological ambiguity. She suggests , I think, that we, as women, are stamped, or patterned, by cultures and events.
Superimposed marks, blocks, patterns--suggest the necessity of women to conform at home or in the work place. Yet, the same repetition can also symbolize the power of connection. Combining photography, xerox, prints,reprints and overlays,
with--graph paper, clear plastic, straight pins, and yes, thread --Sypsa conveys aspects of regularity and repetition, even factory work.
In the haunting AFTER IMAGE OF A YOUNG GIRL, photo lithograph, pins on paper, (24 x 36 inches) a single , indefinite , woman figure glows.--Well, part of the woman's face glows! So does part of her arm, and a purse--or midriff--no matter.
The purple-black-wine-velvet- background dominates, envelopes the woman.--Yet she shines thru! Her environment is Jung's "Dark" . Standing inside it, the woman calls to us from a distance,from the past, most likely. Thru stark , nearly primitive , rendering
the young girl becomes iconic, archetypal We can imbue her with meaning: Our mothers, their mothers,our sisters, our selves.
Sypsa earned her bachelor of arts at Columbus College of Art and Design in 2004. She has done free lance work for the Columbus Museum of Art and has taught continu
ing education classes for CCAD. In 2006 she took part in an Ohio Arts Council international residency at the Dresden Graphic workshop in Dresden Germany. She is a gallery assistant and preparator at the Riffe Gallery. Her phone interview follows.--Happy Women's Day, everyone!
posted by Liz James at 10:50 AM
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