Interface by Madelin Coit

Texture and color articulate the playful nature of Coit’s imagination that is as endless as her source material. In the center of the spector ripps project space sits a huge cube of past issues of THE magazines - the fountainhead and source of many of the evolving sculptures that surround it; as she continues to build, the cube diminishes. She designed two neon works specifically for this exhibition about the passage of time. The sign above the gallery entrance reads "now ... then" and the sign on the opposite wall reads "now... when." Coit has a history of working with language and signage, with many of her works taking the form of poetic messages. In addition, there are new metal mesh works that echo the forms of the newsprint sculptures. Shapes are made in shadows, washes of light are emitted from the neon, and light penetrating the mesh becomes projections. This treatment creates charged interfaces.

Residencies in Wyoming at Ucross Foundation and Jentel initiated a new focus for Coit. She found a stack of The Sheridan Press while searching for materials to make 3-D sketches. “The subject matter within the newspaper was fresh,” said Coit. “Rural Wyoming news items were different, the colors and photos became design elements to be folded and shaped. I embraced the impermanence and flexibility of the material, its non- preciousness made for quick experimentation that developed into room-sized sculptures.” Commonplace materials form something substantial – not to be ironic but to reveal something unexpected, beautiful, or foreboding found in the mundane through the vehicle of one’s imagination.

For this exhibition at the CCA, Madelin Coit creates an ever-changing installation using old copies of THE Magazine*, the magazine for arts and culture in Santa Fe, which holds a strong connection for Coit. This publication is committed to exposing/celebrating local artists currently working in the community.

Coit is present in her exhibition every Friday afternoon. She adds on, subtracts, and alters the space. “Akin to the painting term ‘pentimento,’ there is a deconstruction of layers which declares itself in my work as ‘experienced moments,’ clumped and aggregated to form a larger whole, which then is erased, built upon, torn down, and reconstructed.” The beauty of Interface is not seeing it once, but experiencing the many moments of growth and change, just as witnessing the transition from winter to spring.

*Published in print ten times a year since its founding in 1992, THE Magazine is a free periodical locally owned and created by local writers, editors, photographers, and artists who are actively engaged in the arts community.

Exhibition overview from museum website