Jennifer Mannebach
Pique (2020)
wood, plastic, paper, mylar, paint, glassine, digital print
13 x 9 in. | $375
My work focuses on the borders and edges where things collect and the relationships between what happens on either side of these demarcations. The translucency of layered acetate and glass in much of my work implies a forensic perspective, temporarily bridging the chasm between a topographic view and an infinitesimal interior look.
I’ve been fascinated by the advent of genetic-engineering technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 as a cogent parallel to the longstanding themes in my work that examines fragments and boundaries conceptually and physically. Replacing even a snippet of information to redirect a protein creates a chain of events. Likewise, the removal of a community, however small, reverberates into future generations, as does changing the location or character of a boundary between countries or even neighborhoods. My work often conflates the architecture of the interior body and the broader views of world maps and constructed barriers, incorporating the vibrant hues and intense chroma of the colored gels used in microscopic visualization. Fragments and remnants are constantly reevaluated.
Several years ago, I began to reassign the discards from my larger map-based pieces, capturing them in glassine envelopes in “Containment Sketchbook.” Work in this series reflects the evolution of that process.
© Jennifer Mannebach