Philadelphia
Philadelphia Art Alliance
It isn’t often that an artist’s intent coalesces seamlessly with the viewer’s experience, but this was indeed the case in Diane Pepe’s recent exhibition, “Connections.” Constructed of simple forms and materials, Pepe’s sculptures radiated a sense of calmness and harmony that pervaded the room. Working only with pebbles, thin strips of wood, and brass rods, she created a landscape of forms that achieved balance between substance and air, energy and stasis, and randomness and control. Pepe’s delicate structures make subtle reference to traditional Japanese house construction with its use of wooden frames and paper walls. Like those houses, her sculptures deny separation and seem to merge with their environment. Delicate vertical and diagonal frameworks appear fragile, but they are securely anchored in beds of pebbles. Lattice-style construction emphasizes negative space, as the air itself becomes a key element in her work. …see the entire review in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
