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+---
+date_start: '01-09-2019 16:04'
+date_end: '01-10-2019 16:04'
+title: 'OLIVIA BAX at large'
+media_order: 'Olivia Bax, Pump, 2016.jpg,Olivia Bax, Footloose, 2017.jpg,Olivia Bax, Love Handles, 2017.jpg'
+show_sidebar: false
+aura:
+    pagetype: website
+---
+
+An awareness of materials is crucial in pursuing any artistic endeavour.
+The capacity of the artist to resonate with their medium while grasping its
+true potential occurs through careful observation, during which a full
+understanding of its chemical properties, durability, and texture proceeds.
+For the painter or the etcher, the mental is translated into the physical
+realm predominately with the aid of utensils. The sculptor however relies
+less on this mediating process, for it is the tactile, his very own hand which
+possesses the knowledge to manipulate and assemble substance. It comes
+as no surprise that the greatest innovations in sculpture of the past century
+resulted from an increasing immediacy towards the generative process
+manifest through methods such as direct casting (Medardo Rosso) and
+carving (Constantin Brâncuşi) or the collection of novel, unconventional
+materials for further assembly (Iza Genzken). Olivia Bax's work is a
+distinct example of this aesthetic manu propria, for Bax not only
+physically leaves the imprint of her hand, her gestures on the surface of her
+sculptures, but she also uses handles as a recurring motif (Hot Spot,
+Boulder (with handle) and Pump). Her stand-alone pieces (Rumble and
+Roar) have a human scale, as if they were based on her own height.
+Bax's investigation of material rhythms can be likened to the act of
+sketching, of which the varying tempo, the drawing and selective retracing
+of preferred parts, aid in the development of her sculptural pieces. There is
+an unprecedented fascination with the armature of her pieces, which she
+does not completely conceal with the malleable paper pulp, opting rather
+for the visibility of the different processes. The sculptures are activated not
+only through the revealing of their anatomy and the material dialectic that
+ensues, but also through their humanistic dimensions. Scale holds a
+significant role within Bax's oeuvre, evoking both the domestic, and trying
+to escape from it by experimenting with site-specific height. The work
+Footloose, having been previously installed twice, is now refashioned to 
+accommodate the low ceilings of this space while still slightly protruding
+through the support grid. Bax's work is at large not only through its
+diversity, resembling a smaller retrospective, but also through the sheer
+dimension of the space (the largest space she has exhibited in thus far),
+which allows for the sculptures to escape confinement. There is sufficient
+expanse within the gallery for the works to exist as individual entities,
+while simultaneously undergoing a mutual, collective activation. Palisade,
+the blue fence-like structure suggests a tripartite segmentation of the
+sculptural environment while similarly acting as a chromatic backdrop for
+works such as the aforementioned Footloose, and a three-dimensional
+framing for Slot & Groove. This seemingly divisive curatorial choice
+however, conversely facilitates discourse between the sculptures of the
+ensemble, acting not as a barrier, but rather as an interactional tool.
+Bax's work extends beyond the removal of a sculpture from its pedestal as
+the sole source for immediacy. By imprinting her hands onto the surface of
+the work and using her height as a unit of measurement, by exposing
+diverse layers of materials causing thus an interaction within the anatomy
+of the work itself, and subsequently one within its collective pairing, the
+artist creates a cycle closed off by the viewer. Within her process of
+making, Bax activates herself, the space, the works and viewers, whether
+at a local level or at large.
+Smaranda Ciubotaru