Elizabeth Simonson at Plane Space

Art in America, March, 2005 by Edward Leffingwell

Elizabeth Simonson's work is based on investigations of mathematical systems that replicate the patterns of ebbing and flowing tides. In 2002 she began to make hybrid drawings of rhythmically inflected, parallel strips of masking tape; her made-on-site drawings now include wall-mounted compositions of thin wire, as well as patterns of cuts made in large, rectilinear sheets of black EVA foam, a durable and tractable synthetic padding. In each case, she begins a task, anticipates its direction, and follows its lead as the composition unfolds and defines itself.

Nearly 33 feet long and as much as 5 feet high and 2 feet deep, the undulating wall drawing Current (all works 2004) consists of an elegant system of perhaps thousands of bowed lengths of thin wire fixed at each end directly into a prepared wall surface. Simonson establishes a long horizontal band on the wall at about eye level, as a guide. Working from right to left, she initiates a rhythmic movement by fitting both ends of a short length of wire into the wall one above the other, bowing the wire into an arc that seems to describe a perpendicular. As they accumulate, separated by fractions of an inch, the wires cast thin, regular crosshatches of shadow onto the wall. Those that follow lengthen and stray from the perpendicular, gradually tending toward the diagonal, and then nearly horizontal. That establishes half of one section of the piece. The second half echoes the first, meeting in a sort of cresting wave, so that the passage appears symmetrical, and then another pattern begins to form along the length of the wall. Sufficiently long that it can't be seen in a glance, the work ripples along the wall like wind through a field of grain.

The material and cuts of Swell, a comparatively reductive EVA foam floor piece, recalls the process-driven felt spills of Robert Morris. The thick, synthetic fabric blanketed a corner of the gallery floor like the surface of deep water rising to a crest, the appearance of movement generated by layered marks regularly incised along its 17-by-9-foot length, culminating in a single, craggy, 16-inch peak. Simonson returns to masking tape for the topographic Ebb, an installation drawing that wraps around the perimeter of an alcove, which was serenely illuminated by a skylight on a damp November day. She works the tape in continuous bands parallel to the floor, then introduces small deviations from the regular, in turn engendering other shapes that rise up from the surface of the wall to create patterns of cast shadows. A number of india ink and pencil drawings rehearse these concerns on paper and vellum, a pleasing education for the eye and mind.