Heide Fasnacht

What first drew me in to the work of Heidie Fasnacht, was her work Oculama, 1989. A work that is composed of Wood and masonite spheres arranged in a cluster. The work reminded me of my own fascination with spheres and through further investigation of her work I am excited to find out that imagination, is one of the soul resources of inspiration for her work. I have a strong affinity for works that involve the imagination and I feel that I have always had a vivid one. I find it difficult to articulate a way to invite viewers to participate in a visual experience or representation of my imagination.

Through my research I found a new perspective on attracting the viewer to a work versus letting the work be an attraction unto itself. Kathleen Whitney writes about this concerning Heide’s work. Her work is an amalgam of intelligence, humor, and craft (all things that I am currently interested in), representing nothing less than a grad attempt to give poetic form to knowledge. Her work is always handsome, elegant eve, yet it seems remote from its own appearance. This is work more engaged with itself than with the viewer; its appearance seems more a side effect of its subject matter than a strategic attempt to attract. I think the strategic attempt to attract is something that I often dwell on for far too long when trying to create work and I appreciate Heide Fasnacht’s approach to not concern herself with this aspect.

Fasnacht’s humor is both intriguing and interesting, and comes through her work through various ways; primarily through the use of scale. He recent works intimate scale and detailed surface invite fantasy, at the same time, the sense that the image was enlarged from a photograph makes it apparent that the object is not realistic. The forms are not only depictions of the subject that inspired them but it was surprising for me to find out that there is also a figurative element to the work that takes some observation to comprehend. Her work perceives the mechanics of nature as analogous to sensations experienced by the body i.e. the eruption of a volcano is associated with the force of orgasm; the propulsive force of a sneeze is akin to the centrifugal force exhibited by a tornado.

Harper, Glenn, and Twylene Moyer. A Sculpture Reader: Contemporary Sculpture since 1980. Hamilton, NJ: ISC, 2006. Print.

Carlock, Marty. “Heide Fasnacht.” Sculpture; Vol 25 No.7, Sept 2006.