Dark background densely covered with multicolored glitter and sparkles in shades of blue, red, yellow, and gold, interspersed with organic, elongated forms suggesting anatomical or botanical structures in muted tones.

Regeneration

Dylan Mortimer

11/11/2016 – 12/30/2016

I long for a kind of healing that stretches my imagination. One that generates life out of seeming lifelessness. I desire hope when there doesn’t seem to be a reason to hope. Discovery, possibility, and faith involve a risk to jump beyond what is currently imaginable. I long to move past what I see and know, into what is real.

Borrowing visual forms from Las Vegas marquee signs, Times Square billboards and stained glass windows, I aim to invoke a longing for hope in spite of a dire situation. Layers of glitter invoke a contemporary Baroque to transform my temporal situation. The gaze into the stained glass window looks to eternity from a finite perspective. I hope to use lowly things like 99 cent store glitter in a way that honors the decadence and transcendence it references. Here it is combined with materials that enhance durability and longevity.

Glitter covers blood, phlegm and tears. Not to ignore or suppress them but to transform them. Anatomical and biological forms are altered to reflect the growth and healing imagined and hoped for. My bronchial tree is inverted, in an attempt to discover a tree of life. I join with other bronchial trees in a forest exploring the possibilities of regeneration. Something being created out of what would seem to be nothing.

Exhibition Images ()

  • A large-scale wall installation depicting a forest of stylized trees with black trunks, green grass base, and luminous canopies filled with stained-glass-like patterning in vibrant blues, reds, yellows, and greens, adorned with shimmering glitter. To the left hangs a smaller coral-pink and blue branching form suggesting biological or anatomical origins.
  • Contemporary gallery wall displaying three black sculptural forms embellished with multicolored glitter arranged horizontally. Left: symmetrical tree-like shape with blue and iridescent accents. Center: circular disc with densely packed colorful details. Right: tall vertical form resembling anatomical ribcage with layered bands of cyan, red, gold, and blue glitter against black textured surface. Polished concrete floor and white walls with industrial ceiling visible.
  • A large-scale wall mural featuring an inverted forest of black trees with colorful geometric shapes in red, blue, lime green, and gold glitter covering the canopy against a dark speckled background. White dripping forms cascade down the tree trunks onto a bright green ground, with a single jeweled ornamental tree sculpture mounted on the adjacent white gallery wall.
Dark background densely covered with multicolored glitter and sparkles in shades of blue, red, yellow, and gold, interspersed with organic, elongated forms suggesting anatomical or botanical structures in muted tones.

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