///ERIN V. SOTAK : PERFORMANCE/INSTALLATION

Offering herself as the subject and object of feministic and politically motivated performances, Sotak explores the subject of labor: both the definition and the act. Sotak received her BFA from the University of Arizona and her MFA from San Jose State.  She has exhibited internationally and was recently featured in Exposure Journal.

"per-for-mance /pe(r)-for’-mens/ n. 1. The act, manner or process of functioning
in-stal-la’-tion /in’ste-la’-Shen/ n. 3. items, objects, persons, established in a (place)
I am a runner. I am a story-teller. I am an image-maker. I am a photographer. I am a laborer. I am an absurdist. I am a fabricator. My work most often takes the form of installation and performance that is concerned with labor, endurance, futility, absurdity, collections, consumption and aesthetics. The ephemeral work  then ultimately and most importantly exists as a photograph to live in the form of a photographic image.

la-bor (la’ber) n. 1. Physical or mental exertion of a practical nature, as distinguished from exertion for the sake of amusement
As an artist I am engaged in the constant process of art making and I am acutely aware of the inherent labor in my work. It is a labor that goes beyond a basic physical activity necessary to complete a specific task; it is labor, which is a complicated tool of expression. As my work has evolved from two-dimensional images to performance and installation, labor has developed as a critical element of the content as well as the end “product”. Labor is part of the unseen process as well as part of the seen performance within a gallery. Labor is a metaphor: Labor as time. Labor as body. Labor as the absurd. Labor as ritual. Labor as the futile. "

Studio 218, ext. 53
September 8 - November 23, 2009



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