Lisa Sigal
Lisa Sigal
Workspace Program Resident 2016
I applied to the Dieu Donné Workspace Residency with the intention of making paper for a series I was generating which resembled unprimed drywall. I had hoped to tailor-make paper for this project but in the process I discovered a new direction for making art.
I was fortunate to be paired with Artistic Director Paul Wong, who is an amazing mentor and master papermaker. Drawing upon his knowledge and technical skill, he offered inventive solutions throughout the process.
My intention was to make a multi-purpose paper that could be used for painting, sculpture, letter writing and notes. I wanted to produce paper from the abundant supply of discarded cardboard boxes which I imagine if splayed out across the city would collectively create an entire blanket of cardboard covering our metropolis.
I appreciated the rhythm of working in the Dieu Donné studios and especially the weeks in between sessions, which allowed time to process new approaches and prepare additional materials to be collaged, dissected and recast. To begin this project, I first made casts of cardboard sections and used paper pulp from beat down cardboard boxes to form sheets of paper. We pigmented and mixed cotton fiber for each piece to vary and mimic cardboard that had been printed on or made with varying colors of wood pulp. The results are uncanny hybrids which represent a kind of cellular transformation, by giving new life to discarded material. In addition to collecting boxes, I found other thrown away objects whose forms I used to paint onto the surface of the cardboard, building an image/object archive. The series Curbside, are spongy palimpsests; the cardboard surfaces absorb impressions of past use and trace records of times and place. Imagery and its support contribute a logic of material transformation, and refer us to a cycle of transference and exchange outside the studio.
—Lisa Sigal, 2016
In the Studio
About the Artist
Lisa Sigal (b. 1962, Philadelphia, PA) obtained their BFA from the Tyler School of Art in 1985, attended the Skowhegan School of Art in 1986, and received her MFA in painting from Yale University School of Art in 1985. The artist has had solo exhibitions at LAX Art, Los Angeles, CA; NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC; White Columns Gallery, NYC; and Queens Museum of Art at Bulova Corporate Center, Queens, NY; among others. Sigal’s work was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, and has been exhibited at the Public Art Fund, NYC; Essl Museum, Vienna; Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA; New Museum, NYC; P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY; and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY. Awards include the Creative Capital Grant (2012); Guggenheim Fellowship (2011); New York Foundation for the Arts Grant (2002) and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. The artist currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
For more information, please visit their website: http://lisasigal.net/