Curator's Eye: Lost and Found

Selected by Michael Sweney, Art Dealer and Independent Curator

Describing Marc Dombrosky’s work to the uninitiated can be difficult. He . . . what? Collects scraps of paper from the street? And embroiders over the author’s hand-drawn marks.  Why? In Dombrosky’s nimble hands, such a seemingly banal idea yields the best kind of art: beautifully crafted, engaging work that doesn’t easily leave your head. The cast-off musings, doodles, drug deals and office memos of Tacoma’s inhabitants make for good reading — and viewing.

What fascinates me about Marc’s work is the contrasts. He meshes low art with high, immortalizes casual impermanence and quick sketches with meticulous craft. I love that these scraps of detritus have been captured — even celebrated — in a way that draws attention their authors never intended. And that the manner of rendering — embroidery thread — somehow neutralizes or at least recontextualizes them in an odd and touching way. — M.S

“I’ve become a chronicler of narcotics transactions, a forger of school notes and privy to the written fact that perhaps Kayla is not as popular as her friends had led her to believe. (Sorry Kayla.) Piercing the surface of the paper with needle and thread performs a multitude of functions for me. It allows the work to function not solely as a fixed image, but as one that invites both looking and touching, as though by seeing (and feeling) the pathway of the thread may provide us some insight into the writer’s intentions.” — M.D.

Hey Kayla, 2005, embroidery on found paper (triptych), 6 x 5 ½ inches