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Art Review: Makes It Into Matter

Jodi Lightner

his past Final Friday, CityArts opened their show, Makes It Into Matter, featuring an installation by artist Jodi Lightner and sound artist Ryan Mackey.

Entering the Main Gallery, visitors are greeted with the slow tones of Mackey’s soundscape pulsing from discreetly placed speakers. Lightner’s immense drawing titled “Take Dominion” is suspended from rafters and cuts a serpentine path through the gallery as it unfurls in space. The ink and mixed media drawing on Mylar presents heavy rope in the form of loosely woven netting, reminiscent of fishing nets, that devolves in to a tangled knot in which leaves, seaweed, and vines are interlaced.

The bass-y low notes and floating melodies of Mackey’s soundtrack add a subtle texture to the environment without being overbearing. Sublime, like a slow Gregorian chant, the sound melds with the undulating flow of the rope and gives Lightner’s work breath as it gently sways in the breeze of the air conditioning.

Exquisitely installed, Mackey and Lightner’s work comes together to contemplate the tangle of life. But Lightner’s title, “Take Dominion,” suggests empowerment and, perhaps, this installation illustrates a process where emotional knots and tangled memories are unraveled, and woven into the nets that we cast in life, hoping to catch our next big thing.

Makes It Into Matter will be on view from April 27 – May 19, 2012.

CityArts is located at 334 N Mead, Wichita, KS 67202 and can be reached at (316) 462-2787. Gallery and Gift Shop Hours of Operation: Mondays-Thursdays, 10 am-9pm;  Fridays, 10am-5pm; Final Fridays 10am-9pm; Saturdays, 10am-4pm