{"id":7274,"date":"2016-07-08T15:44:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T15:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artjournalstg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7274"},"modified":"2019-11-21T22:08:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T22:08:31","slug":"caitlin-masley-charlet-and-diana-shpungin-in-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artjournal.collegeart.org\/?p=7274","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Masley-Charlet and Diana Shpungin in Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Diana<\/a>
Diana Shpungin, still from Reoccurring Tide<\/em>, 2016,<\/strong> hand-drawn digital video animation, continuous loop, dimensions variable, edition of 3 (artwork \u00a9 Diana Shpungin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2011, I was standing in Diana Shpungin\u2019s studio as she talked about a new series of intense, graphite-covered objects created in reference to her father and his passing that were to be included in her upcoming solo exhibition at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery. Though she once worked as part of a collaborative team, by then Shpungin\u2019s practice had changed to a solo one as she began to work intensely on objects and animation. In a review of Shpungin\u2019s show, (Untitled) Portrait of Dad<\/em>, for Whitehot Magazine<\/em><\/a>, Megan Garwood wrote:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe presume that mortality lies still in accords with our social and theoretical expectations that reassure our human psyche\u2014a mind that requires closure with goodbyes. Conversely, Diana Shpungin renders counterintuitive living apparitions of her late father in Shpungin\u2019s first brazen solo exhibition (Untitled) Portrait of Dad. Comprised mainly of haunting black pencil on paper, the show\u2019s works unfurl memories of ubiquitous paternal images. As content dissolves into form, Shpungin\u2019s gritty surfaces allude to repetitive meditation and expose Shpungin\u2019s individualistic style, as this is her first show after nearly ten years of collaboration with another artist. Drawings appear unfinished. However the artist loops her drawing series into rough animations. Surprisingly, the rhythmic viewing stables her appropriately disturbing images. They no longer stir.\u201d1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This first paragraph of Garwood\u2019s review speaks to everything that the amazing works deal with, particularly the intensely developed process of drawing with graphite pencil on objects until they are cloaked in a silvery sheen. However, it misses the one thought that I couldn\u2019t shake. To make these works, one has to spend an incredible amount of time alone in a pristine studio. What does that do to you as an artist and a person? How can these objects move beyond the privacy of the four walls and into a more critical realm of the gallery and commodification? Thus began our conversation about studio practices, method, and meeting new people.<\/p>\n

\u2014Caitlin Masley-Charlet<\/p>\n