About Darcie
Baltimore City
Darcie Book (Baltimore, MD) is a painter and installation artist whose work explores paint as object and architecture through the use of innovative processes centered on the unique properties of latex paint. She was selected as a finalist for the 2016 Sondheim Prize with a corresponding exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and was featured in GOOD AND PLENTY, curated by Cynthia Connelly at School 33 Art Center in 2016. Book attended the Vermont Studio Center Artist Residency in… more
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Installations
Within the past few years, my paintings have become increasingly sculptural and have naturally evolved into the realm of installation work. My installations are inspired in part by Mark Rothko’s color field paintings, James Turrell’s technique of painting with light, and Anne Truitt’s column-like sculptures. In my large-scale installation work like Jasper and Midnight Oil, there is a deliberate intersection between light that exists as an ethereal and fugitive medium, and the materially tethered nature of paint. The spectral color fields emanating from the metal leaf shift as the viewer/participant moves around the space. This reflected light and the hyperphysical nature of the paint itself work together to create an otherworldly space. The components work in unison to form a painting executed in space in which the viewer becomes a participant.
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Jasper2016 | Latex paint and gold leaf | 144" x 96" x 96" | All fabric-like forms draped off of the structure and flowing onto the floor are made exclusively of latex paint. (Image courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art).
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Jasper2016 | Latex paint and gold leaf | 144" x 96" x 96" | Site-specific installation at the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of the 2016 Sondheim Prize finalist exhibition. The intense fields of color that appear to glow from within the gold-leafed walls are reflections from fluorescent paint covering the hidden sides of the structure.
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JasperDetail
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Sondheim ExhibitionPartial view of my exhibition installation at the Baltimore Museum of Art for the 2016 Sondheim Prize finalist exhibition.
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Malachite2016 | Latex paint| 35" x 12" x 12" | This installation is situated in a corner and constructed 100% of latex paint.
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MalachiteDetail
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Malachite2016 | Latex paint| 35" x 12" x 12" | This is a view of the underside of Malachite. I like to reward viewers for activating their bodies when they explore different vantage points while looking at my work.
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Midnight Oil2016 | Latex paint and gold leaf | 120" x 96" x 96" | Large site-specific installation I constructed as part of the GOOD AND PLENTY exhibition at School 33 Art Center. The intense fields of color that appear to glow from within the gold-leafed walls are reflections from fluorescent paint covering the hidden sides of the structure.
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Midnight OilDetail
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Borderlands2013 | Latex paint and gold leaf | 72" x 60" x 60" | This installation piece is a precursor to my recent installation works Jasper and Midnight Oil. It is shown here installed at the Hamilton Gallery.
Installation Models | To scale: 3.5 mm = 1 ft
I view the models not only as sketches for full scale installations, but also as standalone artworks. There's a subtle magic in the blurry border between small & large; between physical & imagined. Some of these installation models have become life-sized installations while others have not.
The Four Corners installation model included here represents a project soon to be in production. Once realized, the installation will invite viewers to walk into a painting executed in space and to become participants. Each of a room's four corners will house a hulking, geometric, column-like structure. The four sculptural paint compositions enrobing the structures will employ a unique method of construction, color palette, and aesthetic theme. While I continue work on smaller scale paintings, I am simultaneously fleshing out plans for this room-sized painting and working to secure funding for the project.
The Four Corners installation model included here represents a project soon to be in production. Once realized, the installation will invite viewers to walk into a painting executed in space and to become participants. Each of a room's four corners will house a hulking, geometric, column-like structure. The four sculptural paint compositions enrobing the structures will employ a unique method of construction, color palette, and aesthetic theme. While I continue work on smaller scale paintings, I am simultaneously fleshing out plans for this room-sized painting and working to secure funding for the project.
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Four Corners installation model2016 | Mixed media | 1.5" x 3.5" x 3.5" | Once realized, the Four Corners installation will be a little over four times the size of Jasper and will occupy an entire room with four gold or silver leafed walls rather than occupying a single corner. It will function as a painting executed in space, a painting the viewer can walk into and be enveloped by.
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Four Corners installation model2016 | Mixed media | 1.5" x 3.5" x 3.5" | This perspective is closer to the viewer’s vantage point while inside the Four Corners installation. An element not depicted in this scale model is the extreme dimensionality of each sculptural painting segment protruding off the geometric supporting structures.
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Four Corners installation modelView from above
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Installation Model - BMA Option A2016 | Mixed media | 1.75" x 3" x 3" | This model represents one of several options I explored for the installation work I included in the 2016 Sondheim Prize Exhibition at the BMA.
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Installation Model - BMA Option B2016 | Mixed media | 1.75" x 3" x 3" | This model's structure is more similar to the installation I constructed for the 2016 Sondheim Prize Exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
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Installation Model - Imagined Space #12012 | Mixed media | 1.25" x 2" x 2"
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Installation Model - Imagined Space #1Detail
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Installation Model - Imagined Space #32012 | Mixed media | 1.75" x 2.5" x 2.5"
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Installation Model - Imagined Space #42012 | Mixed media | 1.75" x 2.5" x 2.5" | The Borderlands installation I constructed at the Hamilton Gallery in 2013 is based on this model.
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Installation Model - Imagined Space #52013 | Mixed media | 1.5" x 3.75" x 3.75"
Painting | Larger works
My work pushes the boundaries and possibilities of painting by exploring the realms between the two- and three-dimensional. The works keep intact the vitality that wet paint possesses as raw material. Flaps of paint that still look wet due to extremely glossy surfaces appear to defy gravity hanging up instead of down. Paint protrudes off surfaces, appearing to ooze or flow as it makes its departure from the two-dimensional picture plane.
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Sand Sea2016 | Latex paint on canvas | 27" x 32" x 6"
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Sand SeaDetail
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Outburst2016 | Latex paint on canvas | 20" x 25" x 5"
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Outburst2016 | Latex paint on canvas | 20" x 25" x 5"
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Venetian Red Fan Form2016 | Latex paint | 22" x 27" x 4"
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Venetian Red Fan FormDetail
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Cape Form Artifact2016 | Latex paint on cotton | 46" x 41" x 12"
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Cape Form ArtifactDetail
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Yellow Lace Artifact2015 | Latex paint | 40" x 24" x 4"
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Yellow Lace ArtifactDetail
Painting | Folded paint with substrates
My process usually involves pouring latex paint onto plastic sheeting. I work with a high level of precision in my pouring techniques while simultaneously being open to the unexpected. After the pooled paint dries, I peel it off the plastic sheeting, and use it as a skin or fabric-like sculptural material. This is probably the most satisfying part of my process - peeling then sculpting this material I've created, a material that somehow always feels newly discovered and fresh.
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Keroessa2016 | Latex paint on birch | 13" x 20" x 2"
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KeroessaDetail
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Io2016 | Latex paint on birch | 15" x 16.5" x 1.5"
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IoDetail
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Moth2016 | Latex paint on birch | 20" x 21" x 4"
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MothDetail
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Two Rivers2015 | Latex paint on birch | 11" x 4" x 1.5"
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Two RiversDetail
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Carbon2016 | Latex paint on birch | 12" x 17" x 2"
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Carbon2016 | Latex paint on birch | 12" x 17" x 2"
Painting | Smaller works
Every painting in this grouping is constructed entirely of latex paint. The structures and forms are created solely by the paint, without use of substrates.
I work to push the physicality of the paint in an attempt to start a conversation with the viewer about their own sense of being. My goal is to create hyperphysical objects that encourage the viewer's awareness of their own physical presence and a feeling of being grounded/rooted in the moment.
I work to push the physicality of the paint in an attempt to start a conversation with the viewer about their own sense of being. My goal is to create hyperphysical objects that encourage the viewer's awareness of their own physical presence and a feeling of being grounded/rooted in the moment.
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Collaboration 1 with Sok Song2015 | Latex paint | 6" x 6" x 3"
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Little Secret #52015 | Latex paint | 5.5" x 5.5" x 1.5"
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Collaboration 2 with Sok Song2015 | Latex paint | 10" x 10" x 1"
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Orchid Artifact2015 | Latex paint | 7" x 5" x 2"
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Little Secret #32015 | Latex paint | 8.5" x 3" x 3"
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Little Secret #42015 | Latex paint | 7" x 4" x 1"
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Strata2015 | Latex paint | 5.5" x 10" x 1"
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Strata2015 | Latex paint | 5.5" x 10" x 1"
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Vertical Sedimentary2015 | Latex paint | 2.5" x 8" x 4"
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Folded Paint with Red Stripes2014 | Latex paint and gold leaf | 5" x 5" x 1"