‘Technologic’ by Sparker will be installed at the Contemporary Art Center through Aug. 15.
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Upon entering Gallery 3R at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, visitors are immersed in a site-specific “Technologic” installation by Chicago-based artist Sparker (Sam Parker). Known for transforming unconventional materials into energetic, sensory environments, Sparker holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BFA from Bradley University. Her background in printmaking, drawing, and painting has a significant influence on her approach to large-scale, three-dimensional work.
NICHOLE GRONVOLD ROLLER
In response to the elusive question, many artists are asked by others, “What kind of art do you make?” Sparker explains, “I genuinely laugh and pull up my website. The images usually speak for themselves better than what I can articulate. If I don’t have that option, I usually tell people that I am a mixed-media artist who makes large-scale installations from a combination of fabricated and found objects.”
In the Gallery 3R installation, tangled wires stretch from the ceiling to the floor, visually anchored by a gravity-defying floor fan, neon-lit canisters, glowing string lights, and industrial tubing with bursts of color. The space pulsates with urgency. Movement through the room is an integral part of the experience, with clusters of material forming areas of tightly knotted tension and sudden, untangled release. Painted and constructed forms along the walls hint at more traditional media, creating a didactic dialogue of process.
Sparker’s background in 2-D media remains central to how she constructs space. “My traditional training in 2-D media led me to see the physical world as a drawing in space. Every object I select is a gesture. It loses its function when I squint my eyes and see only the shape or color of it. Then I add it to my palette like a painter with pigments.”
Sparker
The groupings of work reflect an immersive, impermanent, and intentional response to the gallery space at the CAC. Sparker’s art invites curiosity and exploration. Each viewer’s path may differ, as they may initially gravitate toward sculptural wall pieces. At the same time, another may follow the cluster of looping cords and glowing electronics that guide the way to the center of the gallery space.
The location and specificity of the gallery were influential in creating “Technologic,” which runs through Aug. 15. Sparker shares, “Location plays a pivotal role in the overall shape of the installation. If the ceiling is low, that will dictate a different movement than one that is high, for example. Or if there is outside light coming into the space versus not. With the CAC show, I was able to take almost total control of the light in the room, with very little ambient light around the gallery. That helped inform what type of work I would place in there, and I thought something technology-based would lend itself well to a darker environment.”
Beyond the physical, she also considers a place’s cultural and material context. “I like to think about place as a jumping-off point for material considerations from a conceptual standpoint. This usually happens naturally, too, because I ask for donations in the cities and towns where I do the installs, so they are always a reflection of the current trends and culture specific to the area.”
‘Technologic’ by Sparker will be installed at the Contemporary Art Center through Aug. 15.
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For this installation, she received a generous donation of outdated electronics from Warren Township near Chicago, ranging from an analog TV in the corner (press “ON!”) to a “large quantity of cords and wires suspended from the ceiling and strewn across walls and floor.”
The materials Sparker uses may seem random, but don’t be fooled. Her installations focus on the overlooked. “I think the discarded objects find their way to me the same way that art is always whispering to me in some way,” she says. “Memories and past lives are contained within them, and each object carries with it energy from what it has experienced in the world — the same way people do.”
Her arrangement of these objects becomes a powerful visual. “My creations are like a storm of these objects on display, so as not to be ignored. As a swarm, they become heightened, dramatic, worthy of occupying institutional space. They rise up from being forgotten to living in the spotlight, and I can’t help but find that both poetic and a metaphor for my own personal struggles as a single mother with little support in a scary world. A world that so often forgets and discards women, mothers.”
‘Technologic’ by Sparker will be installed at the Contemporary Art Center through Aug. 15.
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Sparker reveals with conviction that, “In this space my voice reverberates through the artwork, and it cannot be talked over, shut down, ignored.” Much in the same way, the objects take a place of power by commanding the space through movement. We must walk around things, underneath them, step over them. But for our own safety, it is best not to ignore them. That is the art.”
‘Technologic’ is free and open to the public during regular business hours at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and during select evening events. The exhibit runs through Aug. 15. For questions or more information, call or text 309-674-6822. Learn more at: