Intimate Immensity

7’3” x 10’10” x 9’

Foam, plaster, fiberglass, and textiles

2018

2018 Intern Artist Fellow

Artist Statement

In what ways are we supported and nurtured; and opposingly, exposed and vulnerable. Through the framework of organic forms and structural components, I explore how we construct and care for ourselves, or how we have been stripped and vulnerable. I extend this curiosity to our relationship with the environment and the responsibility of the individual.

I reference forms such as organs, nests, caves, or womb-like structures that equivocate between the biological and the geological. The poetic nature of these spaces arouses the imagination with notions of comfort, shelter, and fecundity; however, they may also elicit feelings of overwhelm and unease. These spaces are the tree forts we built as kids, the cupboards we hid in, and a blanket pulled over our heads. They are the construction of places that provide shelter to explore the mysterious.

The grotesque is interesting to me because it invokes a visceral response that moves between feelings of attraction and repulsion; disgust and intrigue. Visceral responses have an intriguing connection to the physical body. The sensation nudges you to ‘turn inward’ to confront emotions or patterns of thought that shape our perspectives and form habits and routines. I aim to describe my own moments of friction between my body and mind as I recall the ways that I have neglected, obsessed over, coddled, cared for, built up, and fought against my body to release tension and find stability.

Chantel Schultz

https://cargocollective.com/chantelschultz

Born: Weyburn, Canada, 1993

Resides: Edmonton, Canada

Education

BFA, University of Albert, 2019