MIA PEARLMAN: PROCESS
My process is very intuitive, based on spontaneous decisions in the moment. I begin by making loose line drawings in India ink on large rolls of paper. Then I cut out selected areas between the lines to make a new drawing in positive and negative space on the reverse. 30-80 of these cut paper pieces form the final installation, which I create on site by trial and error, a 2-3 day dance with chance and control. Existing only for the length of an exhibition, this weightless world totters on the brink of being and not being, continually in flux. It is my mediation on creation, destruction, and the transient nature of reality.
Since receiving her BFA from Cornell University in 1996, Mia Pearlman has exhibited internationally in numerous galleries, non-profit spaces and museums, including the Museum of Arts and Design (NY), the Montgomery Museum of Art (AL), the Centre for Recent Drawing (London), and Mixed Greens (NY). Upcoming shows include the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Morgan Lehman Gallery (NY) and the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian. Her work is featured in several books on the use of paper in contemporary art. Pearlman has participated in many residency programs, including Proyecto’Ace in Buenos Aires, the Lower East Side Printshop in NYC, and the Vermont Studio Center. She is a recipient of a 2008 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and a 2009 Established Artist Fellowship from UrbanGlass. Pearlman lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
How it begins. . .
I make a drawing in India ink on big rolls of paper. I may have a basic size, shape or style of mark-making in mind, but the process is very free-form and intuitive. (photo: Catrina Genovese)
Then I start cutting out the white parts between the lines. Each cut determines the next cut. (photo: Catrina Genovese)
(photo: Catrina Genovese)
The floor. . .and this is nothing! (photo: Catrina Genovese)
If I’m planning a show, sometimes I’ll put up the pieces in my studio to make sure I have enough for the final installation. I never fine-tune or place things purposely, because I want to keep the process at the gallery completely intuitive. I can’t recreate the arrangements, so I don’t want to fall in love with the mockup in the studio. This photo shows the preparation for EYE at the Centre for Recent Drawing in London. (photo: Catrina Genovese)
(photo: Catrina Genovese)
(photo: Catrina Genovese)
How I get the work to the gallery. . .
Believe it or not, I just stack up the pieces and roll them up in a dropcloth!
To get the work to London I had to roll the pieces up and fit the whole thing in a tube that I checked with my baggage! I was worried that security would make me open it to prove it wasn’t a grenade launcher, but things went very smoothly at JFK. They’ve definitely seen crazier baggage. . .
Et voila! Crossed the Atlantic with nary a crease.
How it comes together. . .
In the best of all possible worlds, I get A LOT of space to spread out the pieces before I start to install. At the Islip Art Museum, I had a whole extra gallery!
Everything I need and more. . .just in case!
The process involves lots of time on ladders. And as always, I have my head in the clouds! The Islip installation was a two person, two day, two ladder, two Advil endeavor. Make that four Advil.
Could not do it alone: much thanks to Gene Bahng, Danyel Ferrari and Sean Slemon for amazing help with installation, planning and most of all, SCHLEPPING.!
At Sears Peyton. . .on a 70 degree day in January. . .scary.
Head in the clouds, again.
With Sean’s help at Mixed Greens.
I don’t make sketches or design the installations ahead of time—it all happens on site. In advance I will take photos of the space, which I hang in the studio, and get the dimensions of the walls and ceiling. By the time I do the install I usually have some idea of what I’ll do, but it always turns out different than I imagined.
After all the long hours cutting paper alone in my studio, installing is almost euphoric—so much fun.
Pointing things out at the Centre for Recent Drawing in London. . .
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