- — June 1, 2009
Metal Mandalas and Blood Work
selected by Larry Yocom, owner, Gallery Frames and co-owner (with Greg Kucera), Seattle artREsource
Traces, 2007, iron fillings embedded in paper, 15 x 15 inches, photo by Luke Woods
I can imagine Nola Avienne as an inquisitive child disassembling and tinkering with her mother’s small household appliances. I picture her using the materials inside, making something intriguing and worthy of her efforts, transforming curious materials into sublimely beautiful and intriguing creations.
Nola began to work with blood when she graduated from LA’s Otis Art Institute in 1989, motivated by both scientific and aesthetic, painterly concerns. Her 2007 UW MFA show included paper drawings using magnets rotating from the underside, dragging metal filings over the surface to leave circular patterns of rust, gray and black. I own some of them, and also a kinetic sculpture made from a vintage phonograph that spins around with steel filings and a magnetized eyeball on an endless circular journey. I love the crazy look of this absurd machine and its lurching, skittering motion. So do my cats!
Working with the magnets led her to work again with blood, using its magnetic properties. To facilitate a show, The Donor Wall Project, she went back to school for a certificate in phlebotomy. She began using not only her own blood but also blood samples from fellow artists, who remained anonymous so she could make a blind study of the differences between them. It’s a profile of an indistinct group and an indictment of collectors who collect names instead of art. As Nola puts it, “An unfortunate trend in the art market is the purchasing of work as an investment, not out of love of the art. If the artist has become a commodity, why not circumvent the art altogether so you can own an actual piece of the artist?”
— Larry Yomom
Nola Avienne
