Drawing from the violence of a cancer diagnosis, the rigid compartments into which she filed her life to cope during treatment, the unnatural burden of chemotherapy, and the involuntary movements of re-becoming, Press Pause isn’t the show Dengler set out to present, but it is what she needed to
Had you asked Lisa Dengler two months ago what this collection of work was meant to be, she would have said the essence of materials and their relationships with one another, per her usual ethos. Still in a state of intense flux resulting from her cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery over the past twelve months, she was keen to return to her previous routines and ways of being, and her art bore no exception.
However, as with the organic, sometimes imperceptible evolution of her work since she began her career, the pieces in this collection unfurled, revealing their own secrets as Dengler returned to the studio. Though she pressed pause on her normal life to focus solely on healing, the world kept turning, and the parts of herself she shut out carried on quietly within her, surfacing again through the pieces of this collection. As she fully immersed herself in her creative practice once again, she simultaneously found herself entering a necessary process of reflection, feeling, and ultimately, moving forward with an acceptance of how she herself is changing in ways she couldn’t control, but can, in time, embrace.
However, as with the organic, sometimes imperceptible evolution of her work since she began her career, the pieces in this collection unfurled, revealing their own secrets as Dengler returned to the studio. Though she pressed pause on her normal life to focus solely on healing, the world kept turning, and the parts of herself she shut out carried on quietly within her, surfacing again through the pieces of this collection. As she fully immersed herself in her creative practice once again, she simultaneously found herself entering a necessary process of reflection, feeling, and ultimately, moving forward with an acceptance of how she herself is changing in ways she couldn’t control, but can, in time, embrace.
