Rachel Mica Weiss: Engulfing the Elusory

Curator. San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries: Grove St. Window Installation Site. February - April 2013

Working on both literal and conceptual levels, Rachel Mica Weiss's nets and glaciers represent vessels that can trap aspects of the sea, but can never hold it forever. Engulfing the Elusory features oily, black fishing nets forced into large-scale forms on one side of the space, contrasted with equally imposing sculptural elements representing glaciers on the other side. Her materials are both dichotomous and complementary and engage in conversation with each other across a spatial gulf within the gallery. Two forms are separated from the environments in which they can function properly. The nets haven’t caught anything and the glaciers haven’t released the volume of water bound up in their mass. The stillness of the nets and glaciers in the window imbues the installation with an ominous tension, and special attention should be paid to the point in which the materials merge in the center of her constructed environment.