Abigail Ogilvy Gallery is proud to announce Tidal Flexing, our first solo presentation of Amanda Wachob’s artwork. A true innovator in her field, Wachob has become internationally known for redefining the fine art of tattooing. Her recent body of works on canvas are created by using tattoo ink and a surrealistic technique called Decalcomania. It is also the process used in preparing "marbled" tattoos. The final impressions are printed digitally onto temporary tattoo paper, and then applied to canvas instead of skin. The tattoo ink creates an abstract visual ebb and flow, combining neon colors with dark hues and areas of intentionally exposed canvas. The resulting organic shapes are reminiscent of an extraterrestrial shoreline that calls attention to the artist’s process. In addition to the artworks on canvas, Tidal Flexing introduces Wachob’s first limited-edition print on silk.
Jupiter's moon Europa is one of the only celestial bodies in our solar system besides Earth that is said to hold the potential for life. Its surface is wrapped with lines, striated with cracks, and fractured with beautiful patterns due to the process of tidal flexing, or the continuous stretching and heating of its icy layer caused by the shape of its orbit around Jupiter.
The inspiration for this body of work, Amanda Wachob writes, “Sometimes, we rotate around one another like moons or satellites. With a gravitational pull of sorts, sometimes with an unexplainable magnetism. Our orbits around one another can be imperfect, off-balance or elliptical, and we can experience stress, friction and fractures. It is this pushing and pulling and stretching of one another though, that can break us open and be the catalyst to create the conditions for new life.”
Amanda Wachob, Possible Blueprint, Tattoo ink and temporary tattoo paper on canvas, 48 x 36 in., 2020
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