We are Stardust. We are Golden. And we have to find our way back to the Garden., 2013
vinyl tapestry
72” x 498”

a part of Transitional Beings, curated by Elizabeta Betinski and installed at the Los Angeles World Airport (LAX)

Statement on site:

I am best known for multi-elemental sculptures, but long wondered what gives a sculpture its oomph. And so I began looking closely at the details of the documentation of the sculptures. Could these details show the personality of the works? And so these banners emerged, each initiated from a documentary detail and then redefined through continued expansion and contraction. I call this body of work the Essential Drawings. For they embody the essential of a three-dimensional entity, be that essential called a soul, stardust reinstalled, or just simply the connection between us all.

And what better place for the discussions of a larger communal agreement in which we are all accountable to each other than an airport? Whether you have just arrived from a flight or are headed out, please take a moment to enjoy these works; ask the person to your left what they think and discover what connects us all.

Curator's Narrative by Elizabeta Betinski

Rebecca Niederlander, an artist known for her work in sculpture and installation, has chosen a different perspective for her new work: focusing on the details of her sculptures she has transformed their three-dimensional nature onto large two-dimensional planes. Forms become patterns and through this metamorphosis pose a new question: what is essential? Is it the big picture or the minute detail? Niederlander’s “Essential Drawings” remind us of the richness of our world in its entirety, inviting us to journey within, recognize the expanse of our inner worlds, and visit the essentials of our own being as we transit through external space.

While much has changed in the world of air travel, one thing has remained the same: the airport is still the place where many of us say their goodbyes and hellos. Saldamando’s large-scale pieces from her “Embrace Series,” create a pause for contemplating the connections we have with each other. Her delicate black and white pen drawings present an intimate moment between two humans on a large field of patterned fabric. The patterned fields of Saldamando’s work create an ongoing dialogue with Niederlander’s exquisite motifs, giving us a vast visual playground that at its very heart contains our most precious and meaningful necessity: friendship.

As you transit through this space, Niederlander’s and Saldamando’s art is here to both see you off and welcome you: while we might be transitional beings we also have rooted within us an enduring sense of connection, one that has the power to keep us rooted as we grow and expand both our inner selves and our outer environment.