Dust And Distance
Dust And Distance
University of North Texas Galleries, Denton, TX | 2012
“A fundamental starting point for Downen is her view of architecture as a body with a life of its own. Making connections between the constructed environment and human forms, her work reveals unspoken notions about the self as a physical and cultural body. Downen asserts that both bodies and buildings possess strength and power, and both are at the same time vulnerable, reacting to the natural forces of decay and gravity. Her primary material, plaster of Paris or powdered gypsum— used in casts for mending broken bones and for making sculptures—refers to building, covering, and repairing. Each installation evolves from the personality of the space and the concepts it inspires. In this exhibition Downen’s language resolves upon edges and debris as well as the phenomena of void and intersection.”
Tracee W. Robertson, UNT Art Galleries Director (from the exhibition catalogue)