Chloe Buergenthal

Vessels

In my mixed media series Vessels, I have investigated my own interpersonal turmoil through abstracted forms, color, and texture. I have created a collection of modern-day relics to actively document the current world and my state of being after having been inspired by the historical and anthropological value of Greek and Roman vessels and their storytelling abilities. Each vessel works to represent some kind of emotion or interpersonal struggle that I’ve faced over the past year due to the chaos that our Coronavirus-centered world has made so normal.

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Within my initial works and early artistic investigations, which include Vessels 1, 3, and 4, I focused primarily on the storytelling ability of ancient vessels, adorning each form with a wraparound scene that refers to specific experiences or feelings. Vessel 1 explores the lack of times linear feeling I have felt during the lockdowns and isolation, as well as what feels like my separation of myself from my being. Vessel 2 considers the intense clutter and disorganization of my emotions that the pandemic has caused, as I have attempted to convey to viewers a feeling of overgrowth and lack of control. Vessel 4, on the other hand, is focused on the anger and frustration that rose within me during the beginning of the pandemic due to its lack of normalcy, and my frustration concerning our world’s current state. These emotions are represented protruding spikes that show waves of aggression and frustration that my lack of control initiated, as well as circular designs that reference waves of movement.

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Later works in the series, such as 6, 8 (Drip), and 9 (Stretch and Pull), explore a different way of representing my distress, as I have attempted to convey my emotions and societal interpretations through the form and shape of each work instead of the more literal explanation that earlier works attempted through surface-level additions and decorations. 8 (Drip) and 9 (Stretch and Pull) explore more deeply the way in which our world’s systems, such as our global subscription to capitalism and race, have lead to socio-political unrest, the current climate crisis, and systemic racism, as well as the intense wear and tear, or pulling and stretching, of myself and others to the point of physical exhaustion and defeat. 

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Vessel 6, on the other hand, is a representation of the physical and emotional separation I have been forced to cope with during COVID, as my emotional closeness with others has ‘frozen over’ due to the physical distance that our safety now requires. The cool blue gradient references the freezing over of my different connections with friends, while the oozing yarn on each base shows the uncontrollable release of emotion and lack of hope regarding emotional connection that the pandemic has sometimes stirred within me.

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My convoluted emotions, interpretation of socio-political systems, and our pandemic-ruled reality have all come to fruition within Vessel 5, as they are represented through a bubbling, horizontal form with embroidery floss adorned handles and a checkered base. Representative of the literal ‘bubbling over’ of my emotions into an uncontrollable confusion, Vessel 5 signifies my grasping for direction and clarity. The handles represent my confusion regarding possible directions of my future, as well as the innumerable amount of conflicts and systemic barriers that our current world-systems have created. The well hidden fragility of the work also signifies the false security that global leaders and institutions have attempted to instill in the masses throughout COVID-19.

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Despite the difficult experiences and emotional struggles I have encountered amongst COVID, I have found myself grounded by Emile Durkheim’s sociological concepts of anomie and suicide, the sociological definition of social distance, and recent statistical findings that affirm the current global “mental health pandemic.” Through these, I have been able to logically understand my own mental health and minimize my interpretation of the worlds chaos through the theoretical framework they provide.

COVID has also resulted in an influx of delivery, online shopping services, and packaging waste due to stay at home orders and fearful shoppers. Despite the mass amounts of waste created through consumption, it has been found that only 11.8% of consumers agree that they are concerned regarding waste production, although the issue has apparently reached an “all-time high” over the past 12-24 months due to the intense circulation of photos condemning human consumption and scenes like “Garbage Island” (Chueamuangphan et al, 2019. Tencati et al, 2016). This has led to my focus on the environmental sacrifices made in order to consume the products and services that we desire. Each vessel is constructed of cardboard, packaging waste, and newspapers to take an ethical stance towards the increased pollution caused by online shopping and delivery services.

In addition to its ethical stance on waste, Vessels also investigates the ritualistic aspect of art making and the consistency that my own creativity often requires to pursue meaningful work. This, and my experimentation with material, has been inspired by Arlene Shechet, who creates paper reliefs using different textures and dimensional molds, as well as sculptural forms in clay. This practice of experimentation has come to fruition in my own work, as I have experimented with materials like cardboard and embroidery floss. I have also found inspiration in Shechet’s quick decision-making skills, as she is able to almost instantly decide whether or not she likes the direction of a piece while making them. I have exercised this in my own practice as well by relying on my immediate perceptions of my own work.

Trish Anderson, a textile artist, and Nina Kekman, a mixed media visual artist, have also been significant influences throughout this project. Kekman’s tufted wall to floor installation piece Forest Bathing greatly inspired my use of circular shapes and textured layering, which can be seen in Vessel 3. A close-up of Forest Bathing also shows Kekman’s use of layered fibers, and how they work to add movement to the piece as though it’s reaching out towards the audience, which has greatly inspired the three-dimensionality in my work. Anderson’s overall use of color and texture in her wall hangings have also been integral to my series’ growth, as they work to draw in viewers similarly to societal chaos has drawn in and consumed myself and others. This method of texture as a means of symbolism and a way to draw in viewers can be seen in Vessels 3, 5, and 4.

While my work looks quite different than Shechet, Anderson, and Kekman’s, I have drawn from their work my own desire to experiment with texture and form while taking chances and emphasizing my own creative process. This practice has led to my manipulation of string, yarn, cardboard, and newspaper, as well as my embracing of “messy” finishes and quirkiness. These guiding practices have also helped me to physically work through my emotional distress, as they help me to focus on creativity and artistic exploration instead of the negative aspects of our current reality. 

I have approached each form individually according to the specific emotions and societal interpretations for which it represents, which I hope encourages audience members to do the same. I encourage viewers to create to their own meaning behind each vessel and determine on their own the feelings they provoke.

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