Show Title: "Split Level"
Show Duration: September 17-October 16, 2010
Vernissage: September 17, 6-8PM
Closing Reception: October 16, 6-8PM
Split Level is a site-specific sculptural introgression narrating the hubris of built-environment largesse contaminating landscape. Split Level is the third exhibit of Paula Rebsom at Form/Space Atelier. Prior Paula Rebsom exhibits at Form/Space Atelier: Designated Landmarks(2007), Outskirts(2009).
Paula Rebsom Statement For Split Level:
In October of 2008, a house in Southwest Portland slid 300 feet down a hill, crashing into the houses below with a woman inside of it. No one was hurt, although several homes were damaged and others red flagged, deemed unsafe for human occupancy. It was later determined that the landslide was triggered by water from an underground sprinkler system.
Seattle is no stranger to urban landslides and Form/Space Atelier’s unusual exhibition space is perched on a hillside, descending into a basement. This interior architecture presents a perfect opportunity for me to explore urban housing developments, landslides and the intersection between the natural and built environments.
Split Level explores the negative unforeseen results that occur when, often in an attempt to live closer to nature, humans attempt to defy the laws of gravity and forces of nature by building where the land is unstable. There are a wealth of documentary images showing houses that are a foot away from falling over the edge of a steep hillside, houses that have sunk into their foundations, or that have completely smashed into a pile of rubble. These images, which I find both haunting and beautiful, served as a starting point for this work helping to inform the shifts of planes that the siding takes as it plunges into the basement and collapses under the weight of a small boulder. The gray planes immerse the viewer in an environment that recalls the flat, gray surfaces of photographs documenting landslides in the Pacific Northwest.
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