PETER CLOUSE EXHIBITION

"Spatial Contingencies"

‌	October 17 - November 11, 2016 RECEPTION: Thursday, October 27 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Peter Clouse has a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from SVSU. His work fuses the concepts of consumption, waste, and recycling with textile traditions and landscape through monstrous weavings which are a balance between the two dimensions created on a loom, and the third contingent of space.  All gallery exhibitions, lectures and receptions are free and open to the public.

Artist Statement:  "There is a marked complexity and sophistication of development in which my work has evolved from strictly two-dimensional hangings to the three-dimensional installations of spatial experiences. The tapestry wire-weavings hang with a colossal and monumental aspect. There are obvious references to digital technology, electronics, and bandwidth with the materials used, creating not only physical spaces, but also digital spaces. The nature of the chosen materials transcends the quintessential feeling of the “textile” and “tapestry.” I’m using the essential ideas of “textile” and “tapestry” within my work; however I’m pushing the traditional much further by creating space and an overall experience for the viewer. I am also using a nonconventional material such as repurposed electronic wires in the process. There exists a strenuous physicality to my process of making — it’s rough on the body, it connects and commits me to making. As a craftsman, I embrace the process for that love of process. Weaving is a captivating combination of linear two-dimensionality and volumetric three-dimensionality.  I construct linear threads and manipulate the plane of the textile into relief-like structures and spaces.  The installations use pragmatic and intuitive considerations of individual allotment and commerce, creating an ocular experience of movement for the viewer that is highly variable and diverse. Using a formalist approach I liken my daily travels in my environment to the mental travels of my mind. This visual exploration evolves through mapping and plotting these journeys. I’m continuously connecting points to points to establish grids and ordered chaos.  With this it creates both chaos and order depending on the vantage point of the viewer. I feel the viewers can relate to the mapping and/or landscape of the work when being immersed within the space of them and becoming a part of the installation, confronted by the material’s qualities. There are planar compositions, painterly moments created in stasis, and space created in motion. There is a canvas combining vertical and horizontal dead space and active spaces with heuristic twists and suspensions of planar substructures. This allows the viewer to enter a space of wonder and excitement being surrounded and/or confronted by an abundance of material with which the viewer already engages on a daily basis in new ways. These monstrous weavings possess aspects of utility and futility creating networks of connection, spaces, danger, and yet they are powerless."

For open gallery hours or call (989) 964-4159.  The University Art Gallery is located in the Arbury Fine Arts Center on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University, svsu.edu/visit/campusmaps.

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 Reception photos taken by Malory Kochanny