Tearing up

“Tears Along the Edge” (installation detail) (acrylic on cut and molded Tyvek), by Susan Emmerson, M.D., at Kingston Gallery, Boston, through Feb 2.

She explains on her Web site:

“My work is an exploration of the picture plane; it delves into that surface between wall and the environment and expands that surface for the viewer to follow. My drawings and paintings rise off the wall into three dimensions, forming shadows and caverns which in turn incorporate themselves into the the work itself. Using surfaces of paper, Tyvek (a plastic paper), and canvas I explore below these surfaces and expand them outward by heating, sanding, cutting, gluing and plastering and incorporating the structure into the imagery. I use unexpected materials to examine our emotional connection to both the external built environment and the internal environment of the human body.

“In my most recent body of work my imagery is that of creating and destroying; of depicting the horrible violence that natural storms, worsened by human mistakes, can do to our structural environment and to our fellow humans. My wall sculptures depict disheveled, broken surfaces where Tyvek painfully peels away like paint or skin, exposing a raw inner core. Everyday objects become precious; I use their bits and pieces as signifiers of the lost reassurance of a safe and intact home. I manipulate Tyvek so that it jumps off the wall to become an object; its organic shapes echo waves, wind, and the contortions of the earth as visits another storm on its human inhabitants. My work exists in the space between image and object; between the picture and the palpable.’’

Domestic debris

"Homes Without Names: Kitchen Table" (acrylic on molded Tyvek, found fabric and mixed media), by Susan Emmerson, in her show "Now That We Have Only This,'' at Kingston Gallery, Boston May 2-27.