2012 Foggy Bottom Public Art Installation
2012 The (e)merge Art Fair - invited to exhibit
2011 “Contain, Maintain, Sustain 2011”
Introduction
I make sculpture of suspended shattered stone. Each work relies on a precarious balance between the hanging rocks and the cords that hold them. The formal parallels of the lift cord reign in the potent energy of the stones. The verticals ‘breathe’ but remain plumb. The shattered stone, a variety of marbles and granites, has an innate violence, a latent power, that is barely held in check by the encircling cord. In some pieces there is also a cascade of loose cord pooling on the ground below the stones adding a graceful chaotic element to the work. In other pieces the stones themselves cascade downward. All of the work floats between the lyrical and the formal, the powerful and the melodious, the violent and the beautiful.
My work resembles chamber music in its reductive aim. I select the essential elements and then weave and intertwine them, maintaining each distinct voice, in order to create a balanced whole. I believe strongly in the discerning eye; in stripping away the superfluous. I strive for a sort of essence; a clarity that will allow the work grace but not prettiness, rhythm but not contrivance, balance but not stiffness. The work seeks to animate, rather than inhabit, its space.
I love the moment in a dancer’s leap when, after performing the desired actions, he (or she) pauses in the air for just a moment and, through force of pure will, stretches exquisitely, before coming back down. It is that insistence on the delicious moment that transcends mere craft and turns the leap into a thing of spellbinding willed beauty. I am constantly searching for that moment. I use my raw materials, as if they were dancers’ bodies, to draw in space.
(from: http://www.barbaraliotta.com/BarbaraLiotta.com/Artists_Statement.html )
…Liotta, who lives in North-west Wash-ing-ton, has shown her work every-where from the Katzen Art Museum to the Orga-ni-za-tion of Amer-i-can States and the Cor-co-ran Museum of Art.
…Liotta points to rela-tion-ship of the art to the space where it dwells as a key part of the aes-thetic. Her piece of sus-pended shat-tered stone was “con-ceived specif-i-cally for the area in which it is built. The sur-round-ings are an inte-gral part of the piece. The work seeks to ani-mate, rather than inhabit, its space.”
For Liotta, each work relies on a bal-ance between the hang-ing rocks and the cords that hold them. “The for-mal par-al-lels of the lift cord reign in the raw energy of the stones. The ver-ti-cals ‘breathe’ but remain plumb,” she says. Liotta sees her stones as embody-ing “an innate vio-lence, a latent power, held in check by the encir-cling cord.”
She describes her work as “hov-er-ing between the lyri-cal and the for-mal, the pow-er-ful and the melo-di-ous, the vio-lent and the beau-ti-ful. My work resem-bles cham-ber music in its reduc-tive aim.” In all of her work, Liotta keeps cer-tain goals in mind. “I select the essen-tial ele-ments and then weave and inter-twine them, main-tain-ing each dis-tinct voice, in order to cre-ate a bal-anced whole. I strive for a sort of essence; a clar-ity that will allow the work grace but not pret-ti-ness, rhythm but not con-trivance, bal-ance but not stiff-ness. I see my work as draw-ing and, indeed, danc-ing, in space.”
(from: http://www.foggybottomassociation.com/foggy-bottom-news/dark-sun-is-a-sight-to-behold/ )