Looking for something?

Tap outside or press close

InspirationArt & Culture

Fluorescent Fragments: Devra Freelander destroys one of her sculptures to create new artworks

For her latest exhibition, Fluorescent Fragments, Devra Freelander is presenting a series of wall-mounted and sculptural resin fragments all taken from a larger pre-existing sculpture, one that was installed on-site at Socrates Sculpture Park in 2017.

Written By:
Child arranging brightly coloured fluorescent resin fragments in yellow, orange and pink on a white floor

During the deinstall process, without a storage space large enough to house the large-scale artwork, Devra decided to use a circular saw to slice the sunrise into manageable slabs that would fit into the boot of her car, ramming into the remains with a bobcat and jackhammering the base of the sculpture to fully excavate it from the ground.

This mix of controlled and anarchic actions resulted in a myriad of uniquely shattered fragments that broke along naturally occurring fracture lines within the material. The resulting pieces resemble icebergs or ice shelves, the very geologic forms that inspire her artistic process in the first place. Each shard has been carefully cleaned, sanded, and polished, but its shape is completely dictated by the physics of the material’s destruction.

Devra’s practice is about setting parameters and making decisions within those parameters. For this show, she chose to work only with the pre-existing material from de-installing Fluorescent Sunrise. After the physically and emotionally taxing process of cutting up her first and only large-scale sculpture to date, she was overwhelmed to find that the fragments of that sculpture were just as beautiful as the original, and each with their own unique material identity.

"It gives me great joy to give another life to this sculpture and to allow its pieces to go out into the world and proliferate as representatives of their former selves," says Devra. "While I may have set up the conditions for the creation of these fragments, their individual forms transcend my own abilities through chaotic physical perfection. Spending time with each of these fragments, I have learned that sometimes the part is greater than the whole.”

Fluorescent Fragments by Devra Freelander is on show at Cooler Gallery in Brooklyn, NYC, throughout July. Find out more at cooler-gallery.com.

Bright orange and pink curved resin sculpture installed in a grassy field with Manhattan skyline in the background
Translucent resin fragments in bright yellow and orange arranged against a blurred colourful background, resembling shards of ice or broken glass with polished surfaces
Artist Devra Freelander crouches beside brightly coloured resin fragments in shades of yellow, orange and pink, part of her Fluorescent Fragments exhibition
A gallery installation displaying vibrant neon yellow, orange and pink resin fragments mounted on white walls and a shelf, illuminated by track lighting against a wooden ceiling
Brightly coloured resin fragments mounted on white gallery walls and floor, including yellow-to-orange gradient panels and smaller pink and yellow pieces, from Devra Freelander's Fluorescent Fragments exhibition
Brightly coloured translucent resin fragments in fluorescent pink, orange and yellow arranged on a white surface, backlit to glow against a gradient background
Gallery installation view showing fluorescent resin fragments in orange, yellow and pink mounted on white walls and floor, created from Devra Freelander's deconstructed sculpture
Translucent resin fragments in coral, yellow and pink displayed on a white shelf, resembling shattered ice shards from Devra Freelander's deconstructed Fluorescent Sunrise sculpture
Framed photograph of a city skyline with an orange sun above it, displayed on a gallery wall above a white plinth containing a translucent orange resin fragment and paint samples
Bright fluorescent orange, yellow and pink resin fragments scattered across white lined paper, resembling shattered ice shards from Devra Freelander's Fluorescent Sunrise sculpture
Bright fluorescent resin fragments in shades of orange, pink and yellow scattered across a white wooden surface, resembling shards of ice or glass.
Bright orange and pink resin fragments displayed on a white floor against a yellow wall, resembling broken ice shards from Devra Freelander's deconstructed Fluorescent Sunrise sculpture
Three translucent resin fragments in peach, coral and yellow tones arranged on a white surface, resembling icebergs with polished surfaces and jagged edges
Devra Freelander's gallery installation featuring fluorescent pink, yellow and orange resin fragments scattered across a white floor, with larger pieces mounted on walls and displayed as sculptures
Brightly coloured resin fragments in yellow, pink and orange arranged against a white wall, casting shadows and resembling jagged ice shards
Three translucent resin fragments in fluorescent yellow, pink and orange arranged on a white surface, casting coloured shadows
Colourful resin fragments in yellow and pink displayed on a white shelf against a minimalist gallery wall with an orange form visible on the left
Translucent orange and yellow resin fragment mounted on a white wall, displaying smooth polished surfaces and organic curved edges from the destroyed Fluorescent Sunrise sculpture
Three fluorescent resin fragments with yellow-to-orange gradient colouring displayed on a gallery floor, including two large curved pieces and one smaller suspended piece above them
Share

Further Reading