In my exploration of different female artists in the 21st century I stumbled upon Liz Larner, who creates sculptural forms that play with geometry and perception, using color and materials such as ceramics, steel, and Plexiglas to explore the relationship between structure and surface. Along with Katharina Grosse, known for her large-scale, colorful installations that blur the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and architecture, and also Liz Magic Laser who creates performance work, which engages with political speech, empathy, and the relationship between emotion and power. However, 2 of the more intriguing artists that I discovered are Susan Philipsz and Stephanie Syjuco.
Philipsz is a Scottish artist known for her sound installations. Her art touches on themes such as the relationship between art and the public sphere and the power of sound to shape our perceptions of space and place. I thought this was particularly interesting because I have never thought of sound in a sculptural sense.
Alternatively, Syjuco’s practice focuses on creating more physical and imaginary artworks featuring garment patterns for American-prairie- and Civil-War-antebellum style dresses made with a chroma key green fabric, serving as signifiers of specific time periods in American history and exploring the embeddedness of American history in the national psyche. I thought these reimagined dresses were really interesting to look at and it really pleases my inner child who loved “designing” fancy dresses in wacky colors.