Olivia Berke

Artist Statement

The tensions inherent at the edge of where one material is forced into a relationship with another, revealing the porous nature of these pairings, is something I am compelled by. Within my multidisciplinary practice I work with and against the inherent nature of found material in an exploration of perceived oppositions such as balance/instability, logic/absurdity, order/chaos and the precipices between their contradictory states of being.

Each of my works pivot around a set of conditions; an identified point of precipice, and an invented experience that takes place at the intersection of opposition. My work seeks to investigate conditions of being through the materiality and language of sculpture.

Whether it is building sculptures on the brink of collapse, the repetition of patterns so frequent they become indecipherable, or crafting imagined structures that can never be physically realized, each work brings these conditions into play using the relational dynamics inherent in sculpture.

Using processes such as knitting and sewing alongside found, manmade, or industrial objects, I reconstruct objects we encounter every day, recontextualizing the familiar so that it becomes both nothing and many things at once.

Using material and form to create a sense of place and self in the world. I want to encourage viewers to venture into a process of unknowing, or rather, a non-verbal type of knowing where the material world and the immaterial realm conjoin through the physical properties of embodiment.