Clara Gross is interested in the human body as the boundary between the self and the wider world. It is her understanding that we come to know the world around us through what we see, hear, smell, touch or do not touch, and in turn come to know ourselves; where our bodies start and end, what is us and what is not. As an urbanite, most of life has passed in the highly constructed, man-made environment of the city. This has informed Clara’s sense of who she is in the world. She inhabits the space between walls, buildings, and city blocks. These negatives spaces have captured her attention. The negative spaces become activated, positive spaces through our dwelling in them.
Clara’s sculptures reference the shapes and forms of buildings. They exist mainly at a small, model-like scale. This size allows her to address the material and spatial relationships between forms and reference the large scale of architecture in a tangible way. She often works with construction materials such as wood, metal, or plaster in order create a tactile connection with my subject matter.
She enjoys the quiet moments, when the light cast a shadow on the wall just right or when a wire fence touches the brick facade next door or how the space of an alleyway frames a view of a cloud in the sky. There is joy for her in these moments, and humor too.
