Mass (Colder Darker Matter) (Masa [materia más fría más oscura])

Cornelia Parker, British, born 1956

1997

sculpture

burnt wood, wire and string

Museum purchase with funds provided by Jan and Howard Hendler

2002.1

© Phoenix Art Museum. All rights reserved. Photo by Ken Howie.

Contemporary

No

Cornelia Parker’s installation is constructed from the charred remains of a Texas church that was struck by lightning. The London-based artist conceived of and created the work while resident at ArtPace in San Antonio. Featured in the 1997 Turner Prize Exhibition at the Tate Gallery (London), the work was described in the exhibition brochure as “chunks and splinters of charcoal suspended from the ceiling to form the illusion of a cube, dense at the center, thinning at the edges. It appears at once flat and three dimensional, but never solid, almost disintegrating before our eyes.”

The title, in part, refers to the scientific term “cold dark matter,” used to describe the unquantifiable in the universe. “Mass” suggests not only a spiritual gathering, but also the solids and voids that are basic elements of sculpture. The artist also thinks of this work as a charcoal drawing, or an abstract painting against a white background.