Sarah Stengle and Tim Carpenter

Statement

I am a sculptor and book artist who combines found objects and imagery to create unexpected new meanings. I enjoy juxtaposing technical and scientific elements with things that are emotional, feminine or prosaically familiar. Most of my work is done in solitude, but I enjoy collaborating, most recently with photographer Tim Carpenter. I am currently working on a community-based project called the Mile Long Book, which has over 34,000 pages and will span the Mississippi River in Saint Paul sometime during the summer of 2015. I am represented by Central Booking Gallery in New York City and am included in over one hundred public and private collections including the Fogg Museum of Art and the Peirpont Morgan Library.

Artworks

The Curve of Pursuit is part of a larger project done in collaboration with photographer Tim Carpenter, in which pencil drawings by Sarah Stengle are done on top of, and in reaction to, his photographs. The curve chosen is mathematically simple and of the same type that is produced by string art. The curve of pursuit falls on along a roadway suggesting an actual pursuit in the visual narrative. The pencil lines in this image are orchestrated to accentuate elements of the photograph, and to heighten the emotional qualities of stillness and humble domesticity. The curve leaves the picture plane precisely and quickly, and was intended to make the house appear left behind.

The Nearest Neighbor Problem is a pencil drawing of a Nearest Neighbor Graph (NNG) imposed on a photograph of a residential neighborhood. The title is intended as a double entendre, referring both to the mathematical graph and to the underlying residential image. Perforations through the paper occur at 50 simulated uniform random points. The perforations imply bullet holes, or domestic violence. Three people contributed to this piece: the drawing is by Sarah Stengle, the photograph is by Tim Carpenter, and the 5NNG is by Andrew Wade, Ph.D. The 5NNG was hand copied and might include errors or slight modifications. This drawing is part of a larger project done by Sarah Stengle and Tim Carpenter.