Tessa Grundon

About the Show  |  Audio Guides  | Gallery Views  |  Show Materials| Credits and Acknowledgements 

Composition of 16 tiled panels, each including one stroke of brown, grey, or coppor colored paint/material that drip down each tile respectively. Plastic Tides takes as its departure point discarded plastic bags and other objects from around the world that regularly wash ashore in New York Harbor. Grundon’s innovative printing of these already abstract, found compositions on the reverse of the photo paper creates fuzzy object boundaries that bleed into one another—serving as a metaphor for the arbitrariness of modern-day borders.

Strata (Fremington), 2015
Earth Pigments from Fremington Cliff                                  on handmade paper, 14 x 14 inches.                                    Courtesy of the artist.

Artist Statement

My work is rooted in “place” using materials from the natural and manmade world reflecting the Anthropocene age in which we live. Using elements of the landscape my work is inspired and influenced by the topography and history of a place and it’s ever-changing environment from the shifting and increasingly polluted tides, to the effect of man on community and landscape, to man himself and the shared visual language of natural forms.

Tessa Grundon, Contours series, 2015, Mud and beeswax on handmade paper, 18 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Contours series, 2015, Mud and beeswax on handmade paper, 18 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Contours series, 2015, Mud and beeswax on handmade paper, 18 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Contours series, 2015, Mud and beeswax on handmade paper, 18 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Contours series, 2015, Mud and beeswax on handmade paper, 18 x 18 inches, Courtesy of the artist
 
View through a doorway of brown wavy tendrils hangin from the ceiling.
Tessa Grundon, Invasive Species, 2018-2021/2022. Asiatic bittersweet root systems and border fencing. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist.

I work with an amalgam of different materials and artifacts relating to specific geographical locations. I use local maps, beeswax from nearby hives (literally a distillation of place and time); pigments drawn from the mud, various coloured earths, vegetation, rust and charcoal. I look for inspiration and materials in the environment whether in the woods, abandoned places or building sites, using debris found along the shore and strand lines of estuaries, riverbanks and marshes, from the source of a stream to where it meets the ocean, through places both rural and urban. I collect sounds, images, data and objects. With these elements I create work that embodies a sense of place – totems of landscapes that resonate with me.

Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Plastic Tides, 2018—Ongoing Photographic monoprints, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Residuum (Wave Hill) series, 2015, Plant material, raw beeswax, earth and charcoal from Wave Hill on handmade paper, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Residuum (Wave Hill) series, 2015, Plant material, raw beeswax, earth and charcoal from Wave Hill on handmade paper, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist

Artist Bio

Tessa Grundon is a British artist working on both sides of the Atlantic. Her work is rooted in “place” using elements of the landscape to explore environmental issues. In recent years she has been based on Governors Island in NYC Harbor working with arts and science organizations including SWALE, Urban Soil Institute, NYU Gallatin’s Wetlab, Works on Water, Underwater New York and the Virtual Volcano Observatory focusing on engagement with the environment and education. She presently also works as a teaching artist with Artist Space on the Lower East Side. Other partnerships and residencies include Brooklyn Navy Yard, Art.Earth, I-Park, Wave Hill, PLACE Collective and Sail Britain. Her work is in private collections internationally.

Tessa Grundon, Tinctures of Place and Library of Lost Places series, Ongoing Tinctures of (lost) places and objects on wire bookcase, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Tinctures of Place and Library of Lost Places series, Ongoing Tinctures of (lost) places and objects on wire bookcase, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist
Tessa Grundon, Tinctures of Place and Library of Lost Places series, Ongoing Tinctures of (lost) places and objects on wire bookcase, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of the artist

We invite you to contribute to Tessa Grundon’s Library of Lost Places by recording a site and its meaning on the kraft paper on the exhibition table. If you are interested in the artist following up with you about creating a tincture, please leave your contact information by filling out this form.

 

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