While at MacDowell, Lucy Hodgson completed 14 pieces of sculpture, some of which appeared in a solo exhibition at the SoHo 20 Chelsea Gallery in New York City in March 2005.
Artist statement:
"I am a sculptor and printmaker who is expressing outrage at the destruction of the world caused by industrialization and greed. My three dimensional works, recent etchings and drawings depict the industrial wasteland that is created by technology, mechanization, and, more importantly, petroleum production.
From low relief to full figure describes the difference between printmaking to casting three dimensional work. The two processes are similar in concept and the transition from the first to the second is quite natural. Both mediums employ texture and volume. But the actual process from which a print or a piece emerges is the most compelling link to the two. The suspense created during the pause between lifting a printed image off the press or prying the cast form out of the mold provides a sort of “high” for the maker. You never really know what you will get until you see it; perhaps a metaphor for our time.
As to content of the work: most thinking people are horrified at the ongoing obliteration of antiquity by the warring factions in the Middle East. Monuments that took centuries to plan and build will soon be rubble and dust. Since the need for fuel – primarily for military purposes at first – arose at the beginning of the 20th century, we have seen this ancient cultural heritage become the magnet for foreign greed and the present day Middle East a greater cesspool of despotism than any home grown caliphate could have produced.
The ingredient that motivates the carnage is, of course, not religion ( which is only the trope that is used to manipulate it ) but petroleum. In my past work I have protested the extraction and processing of fossil fuels by hydraulic fracturing and drilling, processes which destroy most of the surrounding environment. I have used twisted steel pipes, concrete, rusty building parts, antlers and anthropomorphic pieces of trees. The pieces were more about the destruction of the natural environment by industrialization than any specific target. My latest constructions, however, represent the ruined temples of Syria and the treasures of Iraq. Hail and Farewell: Tyrants at Play at the SOHO20 Gallery ( April 19 – May 20, 2018 ) is an exhibition in which I try to evoke the sense of desperation and futility that comes from seeing beautiful, civilized, cleverly engineered structures wantonly destroyed for political gain. The miniature buildings and columns are made from cast concrete out of which sprout twisted pipes, wires, rusted bedsprings and machine parts. Black “oil spills” made from polyester seep up through the floors threatening to obliterate the whole structure. Tiny hands — whose you can guess — ballooning from the rooftops, salute, wave goodbye, give assent, reject it, and manipulate the future."
