CYNTHIA O'BRIEN
ORBS-SEEDS-CELLS
Grey Years
"I've been told not to get old, yet we are still so beautiful in our decline."
Installation of 16 clay pieces 100cm x 100cm x 15cm 2011
For purchasing inquiriers contact: cynthiaobrien.clay@gmail.com
Elimination Dance
Based on the book Elimination Dance / La dance eliminatoire by Michael Ondaatje,
where all the participants are slowly being taken out of the dance.
20cm H x 20cm W x 122cm L 2008
For purchasing inquiries contact: cynthiaobrien.clay@gmail.com
LOSS
The anticipation of loss has taken hold of my every thought,
and I am frozen in place.
In a room with white walls the floor's centre is filled with a bed of black sand. A figure is etched in the black surrounded by grey eggs. This figure is all that is left of physical life, a memory of the body. The grey eggs grouped around do not speak of health and life but of life transformed and decayed. They refer to both the space once occupied and the power of nature to reclaim. Unlike the natural world based on survival, we humans base our survival on emotion. Looking more carefully at individual eggs the sadness of loss is sweetened by memories. My personal and found objects held within the eggs show a full life through memory, beauty and acceptance.
Fifth Season
"A season out of place"
clay & pulverized iron ore slag 28cm H x 34cm W 2006
For purchasing inquiries contact: cynthiaobrien.clay@gmail.com
BEAUTY SPOTS
..or the French “mouche” used to hide scars of smallpox or syphilis sores.
Influenced by a book on the subject of Smallpox, I was intrigued by the basic idea that one disease could effect people so differently. Each egg or cell in this series is affected or will be, by the Smallpox disease. The battle for survival begins between parasite and host. The ugliness of struggle and loss is countered by the beauty of a natural life with purpose. The aesthetic beauty of the piece is based on the two life forms together in a moment of equality. Yet a moment later, one will win and live, the other lose and die.
