In Memoriam
2001-2002
23 1/2 x 26 3/4 x 1 3/4 in. (59.7 x 67.9 x 4.4 cm)
Rhonda Schaller
United States
Object Type:
Drawing
Medium and Support:
Oil pastel/stick on paper
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
2003.5
Location: Not currently on view
On 9/11/01, as artist Rhonda Schaller commuted to her studio near the World Trade Center, planes were flying into the Twin Towers. As she emerged from the subway into the debacle, her first instinct was to head to her studio – but she quickly turned and ran to safety.
In the aftermath of the attack, Schaller said that it was as if “…the sounds and smoke and destruction became a part of my work.” In Memoriam is one of a group of drawings that emerged from this period of turmoil. For their first exhibition, Schaller wrote:
"These works were made post 9/11.
I had no choice but to make these works now that darkness and light have been redefined in the collective unconscious. This psychic blow of catastrophic proportions has caused a major shift in the reality of the community, and as an artist, I must respond. For if the symbols of the universe exist in shape and form within us, what does darkness and light in this new age of terror look like, feel like? And who am I within this collective space? What is the interior landscape that alters my personal ‘center,’ and yours, when the exterior landscape is destroyed?"
[Label text, 2003]