Margery Amdur

Bridging the gap between painting and sculpture, multimedia artist Margery Amdur has been vigorously developing her unique craft for over thirty-six years, designing temporary, site-specific, and everlasting installations of art, which explore numerous masteries. Performing with heretical resources such as drawing, assemblage, collage, and textiles in a low-tech way; Amdur’s designs aspire to spark conflict with today’s digital era while existing at the junctions of civic participation, ecology, and community organization.

Throughout years gone by, cosmetic sponges concealed with powdered pastels have been at the center of the artist’s vision, with the intention of fashioning a “landscape” amid a biological sense of forms. The decision to work with cosmetic sponges had initially been a purely aesthetical one, yet over time, it converted into an extension of Amdur’s principles of feminism, voicing women’s concerns along with the concept of beautification.

“I feel like my willingness to be vulnerable in my work as well as the stubbornness of not being driven by the market and trends are two important aspects that drive my work” explains the artist. “My work is driven from a place of self-examination. It informs, alerts, and is a marker of time. Initially, I want people to see that I am an artist who makes magic with my hands. I am an artist who wishes to disguise the materials that I use as a way of coaxing the audience to look closer.”

Her creations are frequently entangled with the hypothesis of society and partnership, where the development of her work is achieved by collaborating with small groups of people – primarily students from her home institution or students from art departments.

Embedded throughout her creations, Amdur is continuously discovering ways to make miniature moments poetic and monumental. “I have often said that my work is an indicator of things to come. As a now seasoned artist, my work has evolved from making more narrative statements to creating work that acts as triggers for the audience as well as for myself. The undercurrent remains consistent, the outer coverings take new shape and form.”

Amdur desires spectators to look deeper at the layers of meaning and truth. “Don’t be too resolute about what you see or feel! Look again! There’s more there!”