Stephen Wozniak
Whiteout
2020
MDF, lacquer paint, Staron®
13 1/2″” H x 24″ W x 3″ D (34.25 cm H x 61 cm W x 7.5 cm D)

Exhibited in Insight at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, March 18 – June 20, 2021.

The title of the sculptural wall piece, Whiteout, alludes to both the zero visibility of polar region weather conditions and the unconscious state that recreational drug users often enter to escape their existential dilemmas. It also acts as an allegory about the comprehensive vision we often lose when our perspective is steeped in those of dominant leadership, sometimes loosening our self-identity.

The white-on-white interplay in material and color between the lacquer-painted MDF base and the Corian countertop material unit above mark subtle distinctions between layers, as well as the piece’s proximity to the viewer and to the wall that it floats above, which traditionally supports it.