Tracing Form

Ever wonder what our Capitol’s monuments and buildings would look like if they were condensed into blocks of concrete and colored glass.  This is the subject of Suzannah Vaughan’s Tracing Form, currently on exhibition at Flashpoint Gallery.  Suzannah has created abstract representations of some of the more iconic structures around DC through the medium of concrete and colored glass.

Creating much of the work in this exhibition before ever reaching Washington DC, she did a significant portion of her research on the buildings through online inquiry, looking at the architectural plans of each structure along with images found on the internet to inspire her works.  In her pieces we see The Hirshorn, The Lincoln Memorial Columns, The Metro and many more Washington staples.

Alongside these concrete, heavy sculptures Suzannah has included an installation piece comprised of strings aligned configurations reminiscent of architectural drawings.  Suzannah is interested in the idea of imagined spaces that exist when architects begin drawing up plans.  Many architect’s designs that will never make it off the cutting room floor, and Vaughan is more interested in these creations than the final building that come to be.  Through her installation she has created a 3-dimensional representation of architectural renderings, segmenting an otherwise “non-existent” space.  What we realize is these spaces that we may not overtly recognize become obvious when broken up by something tangible, like a line of red string.  Suzannah’s installations are developed within the spaces she encounters, so each is different and dependent on the potential for imagining space within the location.

At the moment Suzannah is altering her installation piece to include luminescent string that will further demonstrate this idea of imagined, etherial and natural spaces.

Suzannah will be in Washington DC until the end of February working and researching the subjects of her current exhibition, as well as many others, and will then create new works based on her personal experiences with these structures.

Tracing Form will be at Flashpoint Gallery until February 12, 2011