Artist Statement:
I weave systems of nets and traps out of a variety of organic and inorganic materials. These complex systems play with an implied gender narrative through predation. Nonfunctional and feminine, these ephemeral snare traps are designed for an impossible and imagined prey—traps for a desire that is a persistent absence. The variety of materials, including horsehair, monofilament, fish scales, wire, and shell, play with space and line quality while working with a variety of depths through texture, reflection and obfuscation. Embodying the form of a trap, they intend to draw you in like a lure-- shiny, beautiful, but threatening. I want to explore how we augment and distort our world through the context of gender, and hope to expand upon our capacity to see materials both organic and manmade, in new ways.
Artist Biography:
Phoebe Grip is a Brooklyn based sculptural artist, originally from Peterborough, NH. Her current work includes a series of woven snare trap systems that address themes of predation and gender. Grip has most recently exhibited at BRIC House for the 2016 Biennial, Ortega y Gasset Projects, Re: Art Show in the Pfizer building, and the Wassaic Project’s Summer exhibition Appetite for Destruction. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships at the Vermont Studio Center, BRICworkspace in Brooklyn, and The Wassaic Project. Grip has a BA in English from Colorado College.