Ariel Wood’s current body of work problematizes the prescribed duality of solitude and companionship by delving into complex emotional and psychological underpinnings around relational and self centered definitions of comfort and intimacy. A cyclical narrative from solitude to togetherness, and back to solitude with the emotional baggage that is garnered in the process provide the drive for an examination of elaborate investigations of loss. The role of history and memory recognizes the fluidity of presence and absence and fosters the acceptance of the inevitability of loss and it’s resulting growth.
A formal investigation of beds, sheets and pillows, is elaborated into installations, sculptures and paintings in which skin-like surfaces and those of bedding meld into each other in disturbing yet subtle malleability. Absorbing the remnants of interactions within its impressions and folds the bed renders visible intimacy and comfort. The poetics of sculptural form and painterly articulation generate a cross-media conversation to provide a myriad of introspective moments meditating on how we relate to each other.
Wood received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with an emphasis in printmaking, painting, and drawing.
