Additional Images

Literature:

Betsy Sussler, “Artists in Conversation: Sarah Charlesworth”, from Bomb, Winter 1990

Note:

Wishing that her photographs and frames fuse into a single object, Charlesworth chose Yasuo Minagawa (1946-2015) and his factory, Minagawa Art Lines, New York to make the frames that matched the gleaming, undiluted backgrounds of her big, glossy pictures.

"In Subtle Body, I borrowed from Tantric meditation, the progression of ascendent symbols along the body center, equaling seven centers in the body. Then I turned around and replaced them with symbols that are personally significant to me, that reflect my understanding of a physical, psychic elevation." The artist refers to Tantra's schemes in Subtle Body, with a vertical organization of seven objects delineated against a pure white field. "That's what the secrets in the title refers to," Charlesworth continued. "The secrets of higher, esoteric knowledge that are hidden beneath the common level of organized religion and mass culture. I'm talking about very esoteric knowledge which could come from any society or historical period in regard to alchemy. I view each art work, in a sense, as the alchemist might understand the transformation of matter, into something animate with psychic essence. Making an art work involves the transformation of matter, paper and materials into a process of animation or psychic elevation of material stuff."