LAB 6.3: In Growing

Curated by Lisa Baldissera

Painter Stephen B. Nguyen and sculptor Wade Kavanaugh create collaborative installations using elements from their independent practice to address ?the uncertain territory between imagined and physical space.? Audience, environment and space are considered as New York-based artists Nguyen
and Kavanaugh transform the the LAB with layers of brown kraft paper that is reworked to create what they imagine as the texture and feeling of the inside of a giant Sequoia tree trunk. Previous collaborations using these same materials seemingly grow from the structures they inhabit, enveloping the viewer and redefining the parameters that define the viewers? experience within that space. It creates a space that ?our bodies would otherwise not occupy?and that would only exist in our imaginations.?

Nguyen and Kavanaugh also suggest that the tree extends beyond the walls of the LAB ?engaging the perceptual imagination of the audience,? to consider the connection of the giant sequoia in the imaginative landscape of the local community.