Ewa Słapa
Studies for Conditioned Thoughts
We are pleased to invite you to the opening of the new exhibition space PHASE GALLERY and the inaugural exhibition by Ewa Słapa “Studies for Conditioned Thoughts”.
This new body of work draws its inspiration from the iconic “Gates of Hell”, Rodin’s decades-long project, and expands through the studies of conditioning, habit, the concept of free will, cognitive body, formation of self and identification, and others. In his initial approach, Rodin based his compositions of the gate panels on Dante’s scenes from Inferno, crowning them with the separated figure of The Thinker. When the psyche is perceived as matter, the mind becomes an object that can be manipulated, shaped, and undergo semi-permanent transformations through imprints and reactionary forces. When The Thinker falls into Dante’s river, his body itself becomes the gate, as the mind reflects the psychologically disorienting effects of objecthood.
Ewa Słapa is a visual artist working in Sculpture and Photography. Her work entails various materials, techniques, and symbolic interactions, none of them taken for granted. Her projects, based on in-depth research, have addressed a range of subjects, drawing from fields of neuroscience, philosophy of mind, psychology of religion, and others. Born in Poland, she lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.