Resting Rag
No Longer Available
Completed
2022
Medium
Mixed Media: plaster shrine, painting rag, human hair.
Dimensions
12" x 18"
Description
My artistic practice is centered on the ongoing relationship of curated objects through means of tension and pressure. Resting Rag is a piece borne from this investment. Tension, be it physically present or suggested, is an effective way of directing and emphasizing attention. With this work, tension is placed visually, in what is seen and what is not seen. There are suggestions, not answers, to what is beneath the veil. There seems to be a discontinuity between the pedestrian, well-used detritus and the reverent mystery that is invoked within their relationship. Our elevated view does little to provide definition, rather it may emphasize an asymmetrical relationship. Despite such obscurity, the folds and color of the titular rag leave space for a certain tenderness. I am very much interested then in the use of tension as a possible conduit between the tangible and the intangible. How do physicality and environment create transcendence? This semiotic function occurs in both Anglo-American religion and contemporary art. The mechanics of Christianity are intrinsically bound to using physical, material conditions to incite transcendence. See the Passion Narrative or Baroque depictions of martyrdom. As such, the physical, material mechanics of sculpture (and art as a whole) can be used for a similar outcome.
About this Artist
Caleb Clemente
Caleb (CM) Clemente is a multidisciplinary artist living, working, and learning out of Chicago, IL. Born in Elgin, IL, he received his BA in Art Therapy at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. While in Nashville, Clemente steeped himself in the local arts community, befriending and collaborating with peers in both the studio and the gallery. There, he founded the short-lived pop-up gallery, BottleNeck, with a sheet of insulation foam and a street corner. After graduating in the winter of 2020, Clemente enrolled in the University of Chicago’s MFA program, where he is set to graduate in the summer of 2023. Clemente is currently interested in the media of sculpture and drawing, using them to investigate the relationship between the tangible and the transcendent. The work seeks to discern the importance of the corporeal body during ecstasy and expand the definition of sacred spaces.
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