Constructs: You see, I mean or Everything Happens at Once or It Is What It Is or Poems I Couldn't Write (Volume 2). - 2023

[Salt Lake City]:: Marnie Powers-Torrey,, [2023].. Edition of 25. 4 x 3.75" paper formed lidded box with 4 x 3.5" clear plastic pieces laid at bottom of box and on top of book pieces to add stability. Retreating accordion structure. Line drawings and text letterpress printed from photopolymer plates. Solid silhouettes printed from laser-engraved wood blocks. Text set in Superclarendon. Paper waxed Masa. Signed and numbered by the artist. Marnie Powers-Torrey: "This interactive piece was made in response to the call for 'Seeking Balance', an invitational exhibition curated by Kayla Clark. The images are derived from photographs, mostly snapshots taken by the artist post-2000. The two 14" x 31" sheets were letterpress printed from photopolymer plates and laser-engraved woodblocks and then treated with beeswax. Each of the sheets was then cut down into four 3.5" high strips and folded into retreating accordions, a structure developed by the artist. The viewer/reader is invited to reconstruct the printed forms by matching segments of individual figures, stacking one folded form on top of another with the goal of constructing a balanced whole.  "Figures who are contemporaneous and in an implied relationship, appearing in groups of two or more, are printed solid, suggesting bodies of land. Individual figures are represented as line drawings, alluding to travel routes over land, sea, or air, creating intersections which might be accidental or planned. The gestures and particularities of the silhouetted figures are singular in their subtleties and thus register as authentic humans rather than cookie cutouts. Still, the lack of distinguishable, identifying features produces a graphic, iconic quality which allows each viewer to apply personal experiences, make visual and conceptual connections, and construct individual narratives. The colors are vibrant and in conjunction with the layered, overlapping compositions convey a sense of overwhelmingness. The figures exist both on the same plane as well as within distinct three-dimensional spaces, connotating an urban living space. The various scales and hues imply receding space and variance in time, producing a confused hierarchy. In some moments, there seems to be rapport between individually printed figures while in others, tensions are insinuated. The subtitling references Lucy Lippard's 'I see, You mean' and Warren Lehrer's 'I mean, You know'.