Brenda Mallory: The Folly of Dominion

Lenka Konopasek: Transient Objects of Desire

Lory Student Center, Curfman and Duhesa Galleries

Colorado State University

1101 Center Avenue Mall, Fort Collins, CO 80521

March 16-June 30, 2022 / April 26-June 24, 2022

Review by Noa Fodrie

Brenda Mallory’s exhibition The Folly of Dominion explores “making do” as both a resource for material usage and for engaging with the practice of frugality and resilience. The reclamation and revitalization of once cast-off materials—such as cloth, hog rings, bailing wire, wax bike inner tubes, reclaimed water hoses, and threaded pipe—find their way into conversation with one another and the predatory interactions of humans with the environment. Mallory writes that these found materials “contain a vitality and embedded information from their previous intended use.” The human hand is undeniable in the materiality of the work, emphasized by the artist’s pointed titling, before reminding us of the harm caused by false logic and blatant disregard. [1]

An installation view of Brenda Mallory’s exhibition The Folly of Dominion at Colorado State University’s Duhesa Gallery in the Lory Student Center in Fort Collins. Image courtesy of Doug Sink.

Brenda Mallory, *Warning Signs*, 2022, cloth, wax, hog rings, and bailing wire. Image by Noa Fodrie.

On view in Colorado State University’s Lory Student Center Duhesa Gallery, the placement of Mallory’s work in glass cases allows for fine art to enter the daily movements of people in the space. Mallory notes that the piece Warning Signs—a hanging installation of dark cloth strips studded with a grid of white, frilly wax edges—is connected to a childhood memory of “coyote pelts hung from fences as a sign of power, pride, and a warning to hungry predators.” Most of the works hang in between panes of glass with a white backing, giving each their moment to speak. But Warning Signs floats alone without this backing, allowed to breathe in a solo case, where one can observe its central stance within the exhibition.

From left to right: Brenda Mallory, *Broken Flow #2*, 2022, reclaimed water hose, threaded pipe, and rubber cable; *Relic #2*, 2004, cast plaster, wire, and wax bike inner tube; *Relic*, 2004, cast plaster, wire, and wax bike inner tube; *Modified Specimen*, wax, cloth, and glass. Image by Noa Fodrie.

Directly preceding Warning Signs, and seen behind it through the glass, is a series of four works: Broken Flow #2, Relic #2, Relic, and Modified Specimen. There is “interference and disruption in the long-established systems of nature and human cultures,” asserts Mallory. These human cultures destroy resources as they see fit to create their own legacy, but it’s a broken system. The artist’s use of a now unusable water hose points towards our unquenchable fires and unquenchable thirst from years of drought, paired with coastal flooding from heat-fueled storms. Cast plaster paired with wax bike inner tubes in the Relic series tells of human attempts to hold tight to their power through industrialization. The four works speak to the unsustainable rate of modification of the world around us—to the point of extinction.

Brenda Mallory, *Relic*, 2004, cast plaster, wire, and wax bike inner tube. Image courtesy of the artist.

Mallory reminds us that “life on this earth is a complex, interconnected network and we humans are the ultimate predator.” But this power play can only last so long before we are left with nothing but our self-destruction. Just as the coyote pelts were once hung as a sign of power and pride, we also know that “pride comes before a fall.”

In the foreground: Lenka Konopasek, *Seclusion 8*, 2021, mixed media, 22 x 1 x 20 inches; in the background: Lenka Konopasek, *Undergrowth*, 2018, paper and paint, 36 x 42 x 5 inches. Image by Noa Fodrie.

Lenka Konopasek’s exhibition Transient Objects of Desire visualizes a parallel exploration into the “collision between nature and people…raising questions about longevity, the consequences of human behavior, and differences in cultural or national attitudes.” [2] Currently in the Lory Student Center’s Curfman Gallery, her work explores the dichotomies flowing between tension and solace, beauty and destruction, and brute force and gentle intimacy.

Lenka Konopasek, *Pelt*, 2019, paper and paint, 63 x 90 x 6 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

Beginning with a piece called Pelt, Konopasek reminds us of the remnants and the (at times) beauty of violence. While one desires to get close to witness the painting on the bottom layer of the work, long spiky fronds of paper jut out into space disrupting our view and moment of respite with the reminder of violence.

In the foreground: a detail view of Lenka Konopasek’s *Graph*, 2020, paper and paint, 55 x 36 x 6 inches; in the background: Lenka Konopasek, *Scuffle Ground*, 2018, paper and paint, 96 x 96 inches. Image courtesy of Doug Sink.

Konopasek is interested in “assembling and breaking down structures, creating scenes and objects bristling with tension somewhere between beautiful and dangerous.” In the exhibition, the ceramic objects live in conversation with the bristled paintings like Pelt, creating their own individual environments for contemplation. These complex structures, often mimicking organic materials and formations found in nature, are just natural enough to be off-putting, forcing the viewer to question if they are witnessing the underbelly of the world or a moment of destruction. As stated by Konopasek, she “contrasts finely crafted and strangely beautiful images against harsh repulsions to draw attention to the beauty of violence.”

In the foreground: Lenka Konopasek, *Re-growing*, 2022, mixed media, 14 x 20 x 16 inches; in the background: Lenka Konopasek, *Staring Into the Light*, 2022, paper, mixed media, and paint, 39 x 41 x 4 inches. Image by Noa Fodrie.

The artist continues this conversation with the sculpture Re-growing and the painting Staring Into the Light. While brighter tones are in the background of the painting, the dark fronds on top appear unsettling. In the sculpture, dark fringe sprouts from the middle of the light form. It’s as if nature is redistributing upon us what humans have so frivolously claimed as their own, putting our deliberate destructiveness at risk.

Lenka Konopasek’s Transient Objects of Desire is on view through June 24 and Brenda Mallory’s exhibition The Folly of Dominion will be on display until June 30.

Noa Fodrie is an artist and educator. Her practice aims to deconstruct double consciousness through an embodied ritual, pairing together abstract painting and dance in the process. She is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder.

[1] Brenda Mallory, The Folly of Dominion Exhibition Statement.

[2] Lenka Konopasek, Transient Objects of Desire Exhibition Statement.