Artist Statement: Garden of Parallel Paths
Garden of Parallel Paths explores the experience of space and time by envisioning the dissolution of familiar frameworks and structures that were built for the imagination, entertainment, play and tourism. When these places are shuttered, abandoned, and left to deteriorate, they are altered by the natural process of decay. Simultaneously they continue to exist, unchanged, in our travel memoir. This parallel timeline between our memories and abandoned places emphasizes the tenuous character of architecture and the permanence of lived experience. The exhibition is an attempt to illuminate the fragility of built structures and explore the façade of function as it relates to our expectations of permanence and stability.
The places depicted in this exhibition are examples of abandoned and deteriorating tourist destinations. Joyland, a small amusement park in the Midwest was affordable and accessible in its heyday. It closed due to finances and fenced in the attractions which were stopped in their tracks. This place holds onto the remnants of entertainment even as it continues to disappear and disintegrate. Another destination represented is a hotel resort off the coast of Croatia. Haludova Palace Hotel still stands magnificently on an island coast as the columns and pillars hold up the roof and soaring foyer. Over time, this abandoned place built for retreat and play has become porous to the elements of weather as the skylights water the floor and transform the space. The evolution of these places represents manufactured environments mirroring the cyclical patterns of growth and decay we find in nature. It offers insight into our collective willingness to embrace change.