Floor Stack 2008

Kate Carr's 'Floor Stack' looks like it was made with multiple pieces of light-colored wood, stacked one on top of the other, with thin white stripes interspersed in between. I can imagine the repetitive process Carr went through, meticulously laying each piece, considering the subtle shifts in texture and tone. I sympathize with the artist here, with this need to create. What was she thinking as she worked on this, day after day? Was she thinking about Sol Lewitt? This work makes me think of the way the artist Hanne Darboven used seriality, except with very different materials. The overall effect reminds me of the layers you find in geological formations, a kind of man-made sedimentation. The grain of the wood creates an almost topographical map, with each stripe telling a story of growth and time. It is these echoes and resonances that keep artists in conversation across time.