Sarah Fonzi has been in Budapest for 6 weeks participating in the newly started BuBu, Budapest – Buffalo Art Resident Exchange Program, by Katalin Mechtler. The first Hungarian artist and first in the exchange program from Hungary is Zsófia Barabás.

Sarah Fonzi: Elevator Conformity
September 17 - 29., 2018

Horizont Gallery, Budapest

From the beginning of time, humans created systems of order and communication. The infrastructure of roads and rules laid out by the powerful in ways that look familiar no matter the viewer. It is innate to fall into these traditional roles established within a community and constant management is required of yourself to stay within the confines of the structure. Worship and repetition play an important role in this task. They are engrained behaviors within the human condition. People worship heedlessly to answer their deepest desires of belonging. 

I am examining the female body as a useful object of worship. A thing that is more tool than human. A tool only sharpened just before using it. The sculptures take form in fertility figures. A responsibility constantly suppressed then ultimately called on to fill a societal role.

Utilizing architectural elements, mass produced items and textiles found in and inspired by Budapest I reflect on my own role and create scenes from my personal history in casted plaster. By excluding all color the depth and versatility of texture become key components in the aesthetic and keep the emotional attachment to color at bay allowing the narrative to be more variable.

 

Sarah has been in Budapest for 6 weeks participating in the newly started BuBu, Budapest – Buffalo Art Resident Exchange Program, by Katalin Mechtler. The first Hungarian artist and first in the exchange program from Hungary is Zsófia Barabás.

Sarah Fonzi is a sculptor based in Buffalo, New York working with plaster castings to create abstracted landscapes and narratives. In a process she has developed using wet plaster the outcome is part planned part happenstance. Fonzi is interested in the things we leave behind and pass along. Her work is on permanent display across Western and Central New York and has been exhibited in New York City, Atlanta, Argentina and France. She is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design and is also a founder of a non-profit organization on Buffalo's east side, The Foundry. 

Photo: Dávid Biró