SAYAKA GANZ: RECLAIMED CREATIONS
My work is about perceiving harmony, even in situations that appear chaotic from the inside. When observing my sculptures up close, one might see gaps, holes and items being held on only by small points; step away, however, and the sculptures reveal the harmony created when the objects are aligned to the same general (but not identical) direction. Similarly, it is important to gain perspective by stepping back from current problems and look at the larger picture. Then one can perceive the beauty and patterns that exist . . . I grew up with Shinto animist belief that all things in the world have spirits. Thus, when I see discarded items on the street or thrift store shelves, I feel a sadness for them and I am moved to make these abandoned objects happy. My sympathy goes out equally to all discarded objects regardless of materials, but my current working material of choice is plastic. I use mostly common household items to create animal forms with a sense of movement and self-awareness. I use plastics because of the variety of curvilinear forms and colors available. I manipulate and assemble them together as brush strokes to create an effect similar to a Van Gogh painting in three dimensions. – Sayaka Ganz
David J. Wagner, Ph.D., Curator/Tour Director, davidjwagnerllc.com
© Sayaka Ganz, Emergence (Light), 2013. Photo by Adam Parsons