Linear Phrases
Assembled rhythm
Since I was a child I’ve loved miniature things, from dollhouses to seashells. I’m fascinated to think that something so tiny could contain such magnetic energy.
My encounters with tiny objects led me to understand how a single small work can suspend a viewer in an intimate hold, while a series of small works has the potential to orchestrate an expansive rhythm.
My Linear Chorus series explores arrangements that feel staccato from a distance, but introduce fluidity and nuance in closer proximity. The interaction that each chorus invites might engage someone to move away, toward, and around the work, like a dancer.
Small works often play well with larger objects, opening dialogues among forms and shapes balanced along the dissonant scale. The impact resides in the tension between them—an intrigue in which the relationship both surrounds and magnifies the significance of each object.
Mark Rothko once told an audience at Pratt Institute that “small pictures…are like novels.” I feel similarly about small works. Viewing a large work might feel like watching a film in a theater, while an encounter with a small work can feel like holding a discovery close at hand.
Essay “A Case for Small Works”, from Laura Naples: Volume I.
