Folding and Thrusting
Gretchen Marie Schaefer: Folding and Thrusting
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
1750 13th Street, Boulder, CO 80302
Curated by Cortney Lane Stell
October 3, 2019-January 19, 2020
Admission: $2
Review by Laura I. Miller
In Gretchen Marie Schaefer’s latest exhibit, Folding and Thrusting, the acrylic-on-paper-mâché sculpture titled Rock anchors a series of three photographs, titled Ordinary and Absurd. While the faux, gravity-defying boulder overshadows the photographs, they help complicate the idealistic perception of nature that Rock evokes.
Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Rock (detail), 2019, acrylic on paper mâché. Image by Wes Magyar courtesy of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art.
Rock seems to float in the gallery space, an arrangement that contrasts with the sculpture’s realistic rendering, from the myriad of earth tones to textures that mimic erosion by wind and water. In this context, the commonplace rock becomes unfamiliar and the lines between nature and art blur.
Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Ordinary and Absurd (series) (detail), 2019, archival inkjet print. Image by DARIA.
Each of the three photographs in the exhibit pictures a female figure outdoors carrying a large boulder on her back. The women’s postures suggest balance; they fold under the weight of the boulders and thrust against them to remain upright. Though the female figures appear isolated, they also appear to belong to the landscape.
Folding and Thrusting depicts a refreshingly unromantic view of nature—specifically, of the relationship women have with nature. It questions dualisms like masculine and feminine, natural and unnatural, real and imagined. The exhibit invites the viewer to draw conclusions about her own relationship to the earth and society.
Laura I. Miller is a Denver-based writer, editor, and arts supporter. Her reviews have appeared in Lit Hub, Electric Literature, Bustle, and elsewhere.
