interview: margery amdur. numbered perfume.



I would like introduce you to the beautiful and enchanting work of Margery Amdur. Not long ago I was also introduced to her work through the art gallery at my university where two pieces of hers were being shown. The delicate designs and use of color grabbed my attention, and I hope that it will grab yours as well.

Amdur is a Professor of Fine Arts at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey about four miles away from Philadelphia. The pieces I have pictured here at the ones shown in the Ernest G. Welch Gallery at Georgia State University, though currently she is working on a commission to do large scale floor pieces for the Philadelphia Transit's subways.

During a lovely phone conversation with Amdur, I was able to get the low down on her progress as an artist and the influences that have brought her work to where it is today. If you visit her site, you'll be able to actually see the metamorphasis. But wait. Let's take a moment...

What do you see when you look at this work?

Think for a while. Look at it.

Think of them like gardens.

Look at the peaceful, almost predictable swirls, then whoa! A blast of color! Another one! These gardens of tranquility are filled with chaos! And that balance of chaos and tranquility is precisely what Amdur is trying to reflect in her work. This world that we live in is filled with balance of extremes. A rushing train, a butterfly garden, Times Square, Yosemite. You got it. She even expressed that in her own life, she can be both merry and stimulating and also earnest and reflective. I can definitely relate and I'm sure that the rest of you can as well.

How often in our lives do we have perfume on our wrists and briars on our ankles? Originally inspired by the sparse landscape of New Mexico while living there, Amdur used very subdued colors (if any) for a long time. After spending some time easing life's spurs with Van Gogh paint-by-numbers, she was teased and swooned by daring, vibrant colors. Ah, the perfume. So she blended the experiences. Life is a bundled package and even with it's ups and downs, there is loveliness.

With consideration to her new public arwork, she also likes to tie in the ideas of bringing "modest domestic work into public work". These floor pieces that she has been commissioned to do resemble closely the Van Gogh paint by number works that she has been doing, but with greater intesnsity. These beautiful, and typically three dimensional artworks will be layed down as a type of floral garden, a hard carpet in a world of fast transit and rush hour. How beautiful is that?

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting my dear. I enjoyed reading this! Talented artist.

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  2. Thanks, Naomi! I enjoyed writing this!

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