Delta Center for the Arts
LH Horton Jr Gallery presents
Exhibition: August 20 - September 17
Reception: September 3rd, 5-7pm
Eileen Doktorski’s sculptures are inspired by the observation of events, objects, and the environment around her. Much of her time is spent looking and responding to situations — often challenging or traumatic — in an effort to increase social awareness and stir compassion in those who view her work. Her work is generally focused around the theme of human struggle, in particular emotional conflict, physical violence, isolation, consumerism, and alienation from the natural environment. For the past 18 years, Doktorski has been creating sculptures and large-scale installations using combined processes of assemblage and casting. She juxtaposes cast objects and life-casts of the human figure with found objects such as tree roots, furniture, and household articles. In placing these elements together, in an atmosphere of threatening circumstance, she aims to create environments evoking the psychological and surreal.
—Artist Statement
Artifacts of Affluence — Landfill Fragments
Concern regarding rising worldwide consumerism prompted me to visit one of the most evident hallmarks of our current throw-away culture, the city landfill. I have been to dumps before; this trip however was solely for visual research. Although I found the pace of resident dumping disturbing I was captivated by the rich juxtapositions of textures covering nearly every square-foot of the surface I walked on. My eyes scanned the ground sighting not only partially decomposed organic material, broken toys, carpeting and crushed plastic bottles, but brand-new items still in their packaging strewn in among the mud and rubble.
The visit had a profound effect on me. I called the city department of waste management seeking permission to make castings from the landfill for the purpose of art. The city workers were intrigued by my ideas and granted me access to work in restricted sites, creating mold impressions in the most current dumping areas – areas that in a day would be forever buried. A few sculpture students from Utah State University joined me, garbed in heavy boots, gloves and orange vests. We hiked over the landfill mound marking areas of particular interest with spray paint and making molds using plaster and rubber. The schedule of the encroaching landfill bulldozers gave a great sense of urgency to our work. A propane cannon blasted at regular intervals to ward off seagulls giving the sensation of being in a war zone while the stench of the recently dumped and presently churned mix seemed at moments unbearable.
Plastic bags and diapers were visible in every section of the landfill. I discovered an abundance of wet tissue paper, bits of Styrofoam and books chaotically intermingled with mud, toy parts, bicycle tires and bones. Amid the dirt and partially decomposed organic material were countless household items that would have most certainly served for years in other less affluent parts of the world.
My intention in displaying these landfill castings is to bring the subject of waste into the light for closer reflection. Transforming these casts into hardened materials of plaster and bronze signifies the permanence of our waste. We have not merely thrown these objects away but passed them on to future generations. Iridescent and reflective finishes of paint and gilding attract attention to and further illuminate these fragments which should not be forgotten. The refuse depicted in these cast impressions belongs to all of us.
