UMass Amherst Spotlight Magazine

REFLECT

Hampden Gallery University of Massachusetts Amherst March 25, 2005

Profile CHRIS NELSON By Anne LaPrade

Chris Nelson is known throughout Western Massachusetts for his flowing ethereal installations that recreate natural processes using synthetic means. His installation REFLECT which opens April 3 in Hampden Gallery introduces a new element that adds a sense of mystery and which invites contemplation.

AL: In Reflect there is an overriding sense of fluid motion and lightness that contrasts strongly with your earlier works that had about them a sense of containment. The work of yours that first made an impression on me were made from solid wood and sat sturdily on the ground. The new work seems to have traveled a great distance in a short period of time.

CN: The work you are referring to I made about 3 years after graduating from Colorado State. I think of that work as part of my “pod series.” At that time, I was carving pod-like shapes out of wood, and binding the forms with thick ropes. The work had a masculine/aggressive edge. That was actually the last body of work I completed before moving to Massachusetts.

AL: Did the geographic move precipitate the material move in your work?

CN:

Actually, when my chain saw died I decided to work with found wood. Working with the found wood, I began noticing the shadows that the sticks would cast and over time I began to see the shadow as a kind of bridge between two and three dimensions. Eventually, the shadow became the impetus for an installation at Canal Gallery in Holyoke where I essentially traced the shadow of an actual tree onto the floor with charcoal. The Canal Gallery is constructed of columns and arches and each column sprouted the same charcoal shadow drawing which resulted in the space transforming into a kind of forest of shadows. It was exciting to work with the space and image in that way. My work since then has taken the form of installation.

AL: Throughout your various installations you seem to reproduce natural processes without much alteration.

CN: Yes, it is this mimicing of nature that is consistent throughout the earlier work and in the work I’m doing now. I want to maintain the essence of nature, alter it – but not radically – in some cases only minimally altering things. I do spend a good amount of time outdoors – observing. I also have spent time caving – and the way in which a cave takes in air and releases it is related to how Reflect works. There was also a summer that I spent fighting forest fires – experiencing the impact of the air currents on the fire.

AL: A number of people who have seen the image for Reflect on our web site. mention a connection to Christo’s Gates in Central Park. Site is important to your installations. Do you intend to show the work outdoors at any time?

CN: Christo’s work influenced me early on – when I was a student. More recently, the work of David Nash and Andrew Goldsworthy has also inspired me. And yes, the place where I install is critical. I definitely need to spend time in a space in order to conceptualize the work. The physical structure, the architecture, the light sources – all play a role in bringing an installation together. The work is not intended to be outside – it is possible that could happen in the future, but at the moment it is not where my interest lies.

AL: Tell me about the plastic your using now. Is it a contradiction to evoke nature by using a material so readily associated with artificiality?

CN: I don’t think of it in that way. What interests me is the way the plastic moves within the installation. The movement corresponds to the body and the sounds it creates during the movement mimic or actually are natural sounds.

I was working as a preparator at University of Hartford when I first thought of the role plastic might play in my work. We had cordoned off a room using plastic sheeting – and as we worked, I would observe the plastic billowing out and I thought “That’s beautiful”. And I kept that thought in my mind.

Eventually, I used the plastic sheeting in a piece I showed last year called Fields of Motion at the Northampton Center for the Arts. The movement of the plastic suggested bodies in motion – and so I actually did end up collaborating with musicians Pam Bartlett and Christine Olsen, as well as with dancer, Catherine Kendal.

It was a terrific experience with the music and the dance responding to the moving plastic and the plastic seemingly responding to the music and the dance.

Plastic is straightforward. It is what it is – and I like that. It does take on a somewhat new role in Reflect – in that it partially obscures the movement of the panels.

AL: How does drawing figure in your work process?

CN: I may make sketches in the planning stages – I keep to black and white. It is only recently that color has figured into the work at all. In Reflect I’m using a blue colored fabric that is similar to the blue seen in cave pools. It is a deep dark blue – almost black.. The plastic I use is translucent – I think of it as “white”.

AL: That’s interesting. In a sense, the work has color, but is also black and white.

CN: Color is taking on greater importance in this work. It has a calming effect.

AL: When I look at your work, I get a sense that I want to spend time with the work – that spending time observing the movement is important to the viewing.Then when I read the title, I almost assume the word to be giving direction: reflect!

CN: In calling the piece Reflect I want to both allude to the reflective qualities within the piece, to the idea that the work is a reflection of nature, and if the viewer feels an invitation to stay with the work to reflect on it, on themselves, or on any thing at all – that is fine with me.

REFLECT opens with a reception for the artist on Sunday, April 3, from 4-6 p.m. The exhibition is on view through May 3, 2005.