54 5x7s

54 5x7 is a series of 18 triptychs comprised of 3 works on 5” x 7” paper. Created mostly on-the-go over a 12 year period, Conarro experimented with lithograph, painting and drawing. The three components of each triptych are one collage, one object drawing, and one fill-in-the blank exercise. The collage is abstract and colorful, created to reflect the myriad emotions that we carry in our relationships with others and ourselves. The object drawing serves as a subjective glue, connecting the abstract collage on the left with the text on the right. The fill-in-the-blank exercise consists of a sentence repeated multiple times. Each time the sentence is repeated, a word is replaced by a blank space. By the final iteration of the sentence, almost all words have been replaced by blank spaces.

The collages were created using the Intuition Research method. Conarro reworks and rearranges ideas on the page in an effort to create random visual relationships. Done over time, each collage has years of attention paid to it with a variety of mediums. On close inspection, its own history becomes apparent as elements made from different years show their age, style, and unique direction. The object drawings were chosen deliberately by Conarro to be common and recognizable. It serves to ground each triptych in familiarity, though its relationship to the whole remains subjective. The fill-in-the-blank sentences offer the viewer an opportunity to create their own story. Each sentence is taken from a quotation someone shared during a Link:Link gathering, many of which are featured in Connecting the Dots Supercuts.

Conarro adds blanks to the statements to create access points for the viewer. The blanks allow any person to fill in their own context. By repeating the phrase and adding more blanks, Conarro follows a path of increasing spectrum of accessibility and personalization to the phrase.

The pieces were created in cars, houses, trains, buses, and apartments, allowing Conarro to expand her process outside of the studio. Because the pieces travelled with Conarro everywhere she went for 12 years, they carry with them her personal story, every high and low, through two child births, loves found then lost, and multiple moves including across the country from Alaska to New York City. Sometimes this weight felt too heavy, leading Conarro to almost discard them all in a truckstop trash can in rural Pennsylvania. The pieces persisted, however, like strong memories one cannot shake.

References include:

Joseph Kosuth, Laundry - Drying, Aew Ivory Coast July/Aug 1999 Photo.