Connecticut Art Scene: Saturday night opening at the Hygienic

Hygienic Art
83 Bank St., P.O. Box 417, New London, (860) 443-8001
Poliz: Pola Ester & Susan Madacsi
July 4—Aug. 1, 2009
Opening reception: Sat., July 4, 7—10 p.m.

Press release

Poliz is a Polish word that loosely translates as something to try or to sample for the first time. The show features local New London photographer Pola Ester and Hygienic resid

ent artist Susan Madacsi. Ester immigrated to the US from Poland where she had an interest in the theater arts. Since moving to the states she has focused on documentary and fashion photography. Ester will be showing a series of new photographs that feature a number of New London characters and artists who volunteered their time to model. Her photos are inspired by her interests in fashion and theater. The images are modern, provocative and edgy with an emphasis on color and composition. Madacsi will be showing non-functional sculptural objects forged in steel along with water based paintings and drawings. Her work also focuses on color and composition.

Susan Madacsi:

I work with steel in the traditional forging manor of a blacksmith. When steel is heated to forging temperatures around 2200 degrees it can be manipulated in the same ways as clay. In this new body of work, I have been exploring and pushing the plasticity of the material. Large thick bars are forged and cut into many smaller manageable pieces and re-assembled into forms. The vessels' surfaces are then treated as if a palette. I apply enamel paint and use a variety of techniques to distress the surface. The result is an interpretation of a contemporary form that suggests architecture, stone, and an attempt to capture entropy. By using pigment I have found that I am able to emphasize the many textures that evolve from forging. Although steel is usually first thought of as an industrial material, I like to draw attention to our connection with it on a human level, by creating objects that reveal organic forms.