From Sugar Land, Texas
Artist Statement:
Tracey Meyer is a keen observer of the natural world, and inspired by the building blocks of nature, her work aims to utilize shapes and repetition to examine the relationship between order and complexity. She is also known to contemplate the human condition in her work. She employs a range of materials which are either repurposed geometry, or shapes she has constructed herself, and she honours these shapes with a methodical and precise way of working.
Meyer’s series What Shapes Us is a sculptural exploration of the complexity of life. These works are shaped and stiffened rag paper sculptures which each represent an imagined individual’s existence. Momentous or calamitous events are represented by the physical shaping of the whole sculptural form. Each cut and bend in the artwork represents a decision in that person’s story, a response to an experience, or a choice that had to be made. The cut apertures in the sculpture portray a physical manifestation of the life’s reaction to its experiences. The resulting artwork portrays the non-linear nature of an individual’s journey, and how it is made up of many experiences -- large and small, easy and difficult. Whether the life appears relatively tranquil or rather tumultuous, the work exposes the internal dialogue that shapes it. This exhibition asks the viewer to consider more deeply the hidden challenges that others experience, and to re-examine the complexity of existence in general.
Artist Biography:
Raised in Australia, Tracey Meyer has lived in Houston on and off since 1997. During this time, she attended the MFAH’s Glassell School of Art and achieved the Certificate of Art in painting and sculpture. Meyer began her working life as a teacher of History and German. She has spent many years on various boards and committees, has travelled extensively, and is fascinated by the world around her. She is consequently driven to learn new skills. Meyer loves to learn new languages but most of all she loves shapes.