GATHERING GRAVITY: Mari Andrews
APRIL 5 - MAY 30, 2013
Mari Andrews, Leadindigo (detail), 2013, lead, indigo pigment, 6.5 x 5 x 2 inches each
Mari Andrews is known for delicate, haiku-like sculptures she has been making for the past 20 years. Her “three-dimensional drawings,” as she calls them, combine collected natural objects like seeds, leaves, moss and stones with linear man made materials, such as metal wire. Many of the materials are found on the artist’s frequent nature walks around the San Francisco Bay Area and the Sierras. Many of Andrews’ works are small-scale and intimate worlds onto themselves, shown individually or in large groupings. Gathering Gravity, however, highlights Andrews’ architectural-scale installations of repeated sculptural elements as well as the artist’s use of gravity as a structural force.
Navigating the Slipstream features smooth rocks on steel posts clustered in a vertical “river” flowing down the wall. Another installation is comprised of stones dangling from wall-mounted steel wires that bend and sway like an upside-down meadow of flowers. In Collected Topography, dozens of collected soils with a surprising diversity of colors are gathered in small lead pockets nailed to the wall like specimens. As with all of Andrews’ work, elements are simple and pared down to what is essential. With such simplicity, the viewer is able to appreciate not only the sculptural details, such as the complementary nature of contrasting materials, but also the beauty and wonder offered by nature, which we often overlook.
Mari Andrews earned her BFA from the University of Dayton OH and her MFA from Otis Art Institute of Parson’s School of Design, Los Angeles. Her work is in the collections of the San Jose Museum of Art, the De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, and the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME. Andrews has exhibited extensively throughout California and the US, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Bolinas Museum, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, and the Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ. She has also exhibited her work internationally in Japan, Isreal, and England. In 2013, Andrews will be exhibiting new works at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. This is her third exhibition and first solo exhibition at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary.
