Award: Artist Research & Development Grant

Discipline: Visual Arts

Project Collaborator(s):

City/Town: Phoenix

Year: 2018

Artist Website: http://www.christinecassano.com/

These pieces emit what feel like the last codes and signals of a now distant utopian future. Like fossils of a bygone era or a fallen epoch that may very well be our own, the work questions our place in the making and unmaking of planetary life and of structures both monumental and diminutive.

Christine Cassano’s fossil-like sculptures use elements of the biological and the technological to explore contemporary ecological challenges and the idea of “”a future imperfect.”” Her sculptures are both visually active and metaphorically rich with meaning. Her intention is to  engage the public in a dialogue about the intersection of ecological, biological, and technological narratives in society and their impact on the world around us.

With her award, Cassano will focus on expanding her knowledge and understanding of sculpture-related materials, technologies, and casting processes. During this period of learning and exploration, she will push the boundaries of her previous sculptural work into a larger size and scale. In the winter of 2018, Cossano plans to transport one of these new, larger monolithic forms into the remote Sonoran Desert landscape. Over the period of several days, the installation will be documented via time-lapse video, more new territory for the artist to explore.

 

Image: “Remains of Future’s Past” by Christine Cassano. Iridescent concrete sculpture combining fossilized patterns of circuitry with abstracted and organic futuristic remains.

Christine Cossano received her BFA in Studio Art from Old Dominion University. She exhibits her work locally, regionally and nationally including the Phoenix Art Museum and a solo exhibition at Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum. She is also a Contemporary Forum Artist Grant recipient via the Phoenix Art Museum and supported in part by the Nathan Cummings Foundation Endowment.

Works and installations by Cassano are featured in various collections throughout the US and on the cover of two nationally published books. In addition, new works have been commissioned by a number of developers, architectural firms, universities and hospitals.

Artist photo by Susan Crutchfield

Banner Image: (left and right) Christine Cassano preparing a new sculptural piece for transport. Photos by Damian Taylor & Florence Darling. (center) “Corrosion of Logarithms” by Christine Cassano.