Alice Momm is a NYC based artist whose work is inspired by her immersion in and longing for connections with the more-than-human world.  In NYC her creative life centers around walks in Central Park – with gleaned materials, photographs and impressions forming the basis for her ephemeral, sculptural and written works.  Momm’s art has been exhibited at venues such as Millay Arts in Austerlitz, NY; the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, Wave Hill in the Bronx; Kjerringøy Land Art Biennale, Norway; and the Visual Arts Center of NJ in Summit; and her prose and poetry have been published in the Brooklyn Rail and in the anthology Art in the Anthropocene.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I live in the New York City and long for the country. The artwork I do in the city stems from the need to reintegrate the more than human living world into my life. On walks I collect leaves and scraps, impressions and thoughts. Each is simultaneously the thing itself and an evocation of something more – autumn leaves dance above a subway grate as a train passes below, scraps of bark reveal faces, stark winter branches are lines drawn against grey skies. In my studio, I try to connect with the “beingness” of each picked up or remembered thing – not just to appreciate its inherent qualities, but also to begin a conversation and find its potential place in a new piece. I am drawn to the humble and the quiet, and to the tension of working with extremely fragile materials to bring them into the sphere of art – blurring the line between what is perceived as precious and what is not.

When possible, I leave my studio to work on large scale, collaborative, and/or ephemeral and performative projects outdoors. I am interested in how we coexist and engage with all living beings at the intersection of rural and urban settings. In particular, I am drawn to explore the psychological interpretation of wilderness as an arena for deep set fears and desires.  This is the enchanted wilderness of myth and fairy tales, a place beyond civilization that beckons me, a lifelong city resident, to risk the wonderful or terrible adventures that lay beyond my spheres of comfort and understanding.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the “end game” of my creative output and so try to use only those materials already in my cluttered studio alongside the carefully gathered (leaves, twigs and such). Highly compostable is a goal. Art is a process. And this is how I get there…

walking, gathering, weaving, letting go, sewing, photographing, writing, letting go,
listening, building, dreaming, planting, painting, breathing, dancing, walking,
letting go

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