Her rigorous investigation of form and matter is based in an empirical approach that borders on a scientific method. She isolates a material and methodically tests the many ways it can be aggregated and manipulated. This state of mind is akin to Donovan’s own attitude as an artist. It encourages an open-mindedness and self-awareness that dispels received notions in favor of an understanding that is perpetually receptive to new information. There is, however, something empowering about this position of doubt. The entire encounter is as mesmerizing as it is humbling I’m left interrogating the entire eye-to-brain relay that is my chief way of knowing the world. Like blooming mold or complex molecular chains, the work’s orbs appear to have the potential to keep multiplying in all directions-a promise of growth so infinite that it underscores the limits of human comprehension. There is no clear sequence or hierarchy of parts directing my attention. The baroque coils of mylar sometimes seem to dissolve the Minimalist geometry of the spheres they compose. The work’s structure is also elusive, befuddling. At times, a silver loop of tape can reflect light with a piercing intensity, but if I shift my position by a few steps, the same curve transforms into a dim pocket, a vacuous blackness that my eyes can’t penetrate enough or, rather, at all. Here, metallic mylar tape has been repeatedly folded and amassed into a large-scale cluster of spheres, yet I can’t recognize the material-or is it that I can now finally see the tape for all that it is? This cognitive estrangement goes hand-in-hand with the sense that the work exceeds the limits of my vision. Although she occasionally draws pieces, exhibiting them on a huge scale, Donovan’s sculptures carry on gaining the admiration of her viewers.Tara Donovan’s sculptures consistently overturn my assumptions about the use and properties of mass-produced objects that populate my life. What distinguishes her from other modern artists is her desire to create something entirely different, while making the most of her space. By creating her works on-site, Donovan is unable to move onto another new project in the meantime, seeming like a tedious and almost frustrating artistic process. She chooses her material before she can choose what should be done with it. Tara Donovan does not plan her works, but creates them as she goes, which only contributes to the natural style that she conveys in every piece. The sculptures she creates tend to be extremely delicate and detailed, with natural repetitive patterns to complement the serenity of her handmade compositions. As a contemporary artist, Donovan tends to use site-specific installations to exhibit her sculptures, which are made up of everyday objects such as tape, tooth picks, straws and cups. She is well known for her confident ability to go against the steady grain of the art community. As a New York native, she first attended the School of Visual Arts, then the Corcoran College of Art and Design and the Virginia Commonwealth University. Tara Donovan is an American sculptor who was born in New York in 1969.
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