Substratum
Opalka Gallery
In-Faux-Structure
Substratum - any layer or stratum lying underneath another.
Substratum was a collaborative sculptural work by artist Carolyn DiFiori Hopkins (canopies & concrete forms) with Janice Medina (concrete), and Bjorn Bauer (digital projections). Segments of concrete rubble, wire, and related materials were arranged beneath a collection of tensile fabric canopies. Projected digital images completed the composition. This work is a reaction to the realities of the limited lifespan of walls that are erected around the world for the sole purpose of separation. These walls may be physical, imagined, or psychologically imposed. How do such walls relate to interpretations of shelter and ownership? Can society look skyward and transcend any such walls? Substratum utilizes ideas of transcendence, deconstruction, containment, and framing to question the usefulness of boundaries and to reinforce the idea of existing without confinement, as well as to reinforce the potential afterlives of walls.
[Photo credit]
Carolyn DiFiori Hopkins
Substratum, 2019
Concrete, wire, rebar, plywood, airplane fabric, digital projection
Approximately 12 ft x 12 ft x 12 ft
The In-faux-structure exhibition was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts under Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative.
