Folded Ocean, 2021-2024, installation view at BioBAT Art Space, Brooklyn, New York, ink and colored pencils on Mylar mounted to a Plexiglas circle 6 inches in diameter, found seashell
Folded Ocean is an ongoing series composed of paintings and found shells.
The work questions our perception of natural world, reflects on the notion of the ocean, conceiving it as a complex contact point between two elements that push and pull while continuing to support one another: The Ocean as imminent threat, which represent uncontrolled wildness, and at the same time symbolizes complete freedom, meditation and calm. The series consists of many dozens of sculptural objects of an ink and colored pencils painting on Mylar mounted to a circle shape transparent acrylic, and attached to a seashell, which Anavy collect from places that are significant to her around the world (here in this show mostly from Long Island- the East End and the North Fork area.
Water has also served as a gateway and passage to explore far places and connect with others. These sculptural objects echoes the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ of the Renaissance period, but also signify a longing for another place, in which the sea that symbolizes a state of personal consciousness, ‘folded’ within a seashell. Reminiscent of a souvenir from a distant land, an object that can be carried from place to place, folds within it memory, longing and dreaming.