Anna Plesset

Guide to Conception: Drawing No.2, 2005
vellum, fishing line, embroidery thread and paper fragments
42 x 30 in.

Our bodies and minds rely on the cooperation of complex systems ranging from the cardiovascular system to the nervous system. The world, much like our bodies, is defined by the interaction between many scientific, religious, technological, cultural and social systems. I am particularly interested in the way these disparate systems are visually represented in books and other media, and I am drawn to the connections therein. I address these visual parallels by dissecting found text, diagrams and other pictorial elements, and reassembling them using various ingredients: paints, found objects, and often hundreds of collaged squares, rectangles, slivers or circles.

Experiments with materials and techniques have allowed me to approach art making in a systematic way. In one of my most recent series, Guide to Conception (2005), I have been using copper wire, fishing line and many kinds of thread to intricately stitch materials and ideas together. I call these “drawings” because they challenge the traditional association of line, form and composition with some kind of stylus. My active choice of materials not only enables me to create new systems of expression but also to re-contextualize materials usually associated with other activities such as electrical work and craft making. The associations between activity and material are broken down very much like the numerous systems I break down and visually reconstruct.

© Anna Plesset