Suzy Poling: Elemental Forces

Exhibition Dates: September 28 - October 28, 2012

The first exhibition of Disjecta’s 2012–2013 Curator-in-Residence program features new work from Oakland-based multimedia artist Suzy Poling. For Disjecta, Poling has created a series of large-scale experimental photographs and video installations that address issues of ecology, materiality, and regeneration.

Poling provides stunning examples of the strange and captivating discoveries that can be made at the border between science and the metaphysical. Exploring themes of growth, mutation and decay, Poling uses the language and methods of scientific inquiry to investigate phenomena in the natural environment. A visual alchemy exists in Poling’s process, one that threads together the historical movements of Russian constructivism, Viennese Actionists and the work of experimental artist and filmmaker Harry Smith.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Suzy Poling is an exhibiting artist based in Oakland, California. Her work has been featured in Harper's Magazine, Wired, and the Los Angeles Times. Recent site-specific exhibitions and performances include the Berkeley Art Museum, Machine Projects, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cal Poly University, Queen's Nails Projects, Southern Exposure and Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. She has lectured at De Young Museum, Headlands Center for the Contemporary Arts and San Francisco Art Institute. In addition to her visual work, Poling also performs throughout the US and Europe as an experimental musician, Pod Blotz. Poling is represented by ZG Gallery in Chicago and is a nominee for SFMOMA's SECA Award.