Gelah

Penn

Gelah Penn's work expands the language of drawing in sculptural space. In her site-responsive installations and wall constructions, she works at the intersection of drawing and sculpture. Through cutting, layering, tearing, stapling, and stretching synthetic materials, Penn foregrounds internal conceptual and formal dualities: substance and immateriality, cohesion and fragmentation, object and image. Her aim is to choreograph events of perceptual incident and psychological unease. Penn's hope is that this conflation of disparate parts — mark, shadow, geometry, gesture, concord, dissonance — results in some sort of vertiginous whole. Her interest in film and fiction informs the work.

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Rumor #15, 2021
Polyester mesh, plastic garbage bags, Mylar, staples, eyelets, T-pins, 10 x 14 x 1 in., 19 x 23 x 2 in. framed
Angels with Dirty Faces, 2021
Site-responsive installation, FURNACE/Art on Paper, Falls Village, CT: Polyester mesh & fabric, lenticular plastic, plastic garbage bags & tarp, Mylar, rubber tubing, acrylic paint, ping-pong ball, metal, flattened paper lantern, polyester tubing, staples, Velcro, eyelets, T-pins, 100x 108 x 29 in.
Stele #6, 2019
Lenticular plastic, polyester mesh, vinyl, plastic garbage bags, Mylar, Velcro, staples, eyelets, T-pins , 88 x 46 x 6 in.
Stele #9, 2019
Polyester mesh, lenticular plastic, plastic garbage bags, plastic mesh, silicone tubing, staples, Styrofoam ball, Velcro, eyelets, T-pins, 90 x 49 x 30 in.
Rumor #26, 2021
Polyester mesh &fabric, plastic garbage bags, plastic mesh, Mylar, staples, eyelets, T-pins, 33x 26 x 2 in.
Rumor #25, 2021
Polyester mesh & fabric, plastic garbage bag, Mylar, staples,eyelets, T-pins, 20.5 x 24 x 2 in.
Snitch #5, 2019
Translucent vellum, lenticular plastic, plastic garbage bags, mosquito netting, artist tape, staples, eyelets, T-pins, 69 x 34 x 3.5 in.
Situations, Zone 6 (Rockland), 2017
156 x 384 x 30 inches Site-responsive installation, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME: YUPO, lenticular plastic, Mylar, black aluminum foil, foam rubber, styrofoam, plastic garbage bags, plastic tarps, rubber ball, copper and steel mesh, t-pins, 156 x 384 x 30 in.
Ebb Tide, 2019
Site-responsive installation, Odetta/Chelsea, New York, NY: YUPO, lenticular plastic, plastic garbage bags, foam rubber, Styrofoam, vinyl, foiled thermal insulation, plastic tarps, silk, T-pins, 120 x 204 x 144 in.
Prologue, 2020
Site-responsive installation, Undercurrent,Brooklyn, NY: Lenticular plastic, Mylar, silicone tubing, faux fur ball, black aluminum foil, polyester mesh, plastic garbage bags, polyester fabric, staples,T-pins, 115 x 396 x 28 in.
Havisham #6, 2020
Polyester mesh, & fabric, Mylar, vinyl,plastic garbage bags, staples, eyelets & T-pins on flattened paper lantern,63 x 38 x 2 in.
Havisham #8, 2020
Polyester mesh, plastic garbage bags, Mylar, metallic fabrics, acrylic paint, staples, eyelets, T-pins on flattened paper lantern, 64 x 38 x 3 in.