Emma Salamon
Au Bout Du Fil, 2011, fabric, glass, photo, size variable
Taking Out, 2010, glass, ink, mirror
Aritst Statement
I need my memories. They are my documents. I keep watch over them. They are my privacy, and I am intensely jealous of them. Cézanne said: ‘I am jealous of my little sensations.’ To reminisce and woolgather is negative. You have to differentiate between memories. Are you going to them or are they coming to you? If you are going to them, you are wasting time. Nostalgia is not productive. If they come to you, they are the seeds for sculpture. ~ Louise Bourgeois
I create installations and discrete works that deal with personal experience, psychological and symbolic content. My work consists of multiple parts using different glass techniques combined with other media, drawings, and found manipulated objects. The work is usually visually abstract, but charged with literal implications.
I was born in Paris, France where I spent my early childhood, and then moved to New York, Milan, Italy, and finally settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for my teenage years. After high school I returned to the United States to study. Because of moving to many different locations through my life, I pull inspiration from each of these cultures based on my own experiences. I identify with all of these “sites” where I have lived, but feel as though I don’t belong to any of them entirely. I am alienated by that of which I am a product.
This has inspired my investigation of memory, identity and language. In my work I attempt to explore some of these concepts, as well as evaluation of self, a state of mind, or a place. Speaking different languages put my mind in a constant process of translation; this inspires how I use words and language in my work. If I am not translating from words themselves, I find myself translating from visual and emotional recollections and experiences. The initial idea for a piece of work will come from something very specific and personal, whether it is an argentine tango that has moved me in my past, a love story for a country or a person, or missing a home or a moment. Once I start to work, my intuition and material investigations change the specificity of the piece.
My process is a means of limiting or regulating something: the exchange of control. For me, the process is as important as the finished piece. I find myself using my work as a kind of diary or therapy. It is a visual record of memory and experience. Through form, color, composition and my choice of material I am attempting to evoke our sensory behavior. I am interested in the types of emotions people usually put aside, left for the subconscious or dreams.
More information available at www.Emmasalamon.com