This undulating lattice of Styrofoam drinking cups, with glowing hollows and pliable rims, was made to expand into the architecture of this particular space. To discover how they react to light and space in transcendent ways, Donovan experiments with huge volumes of manufactured materials. Clustered with an almost viral repetition, the cups above assume forms that both evoke natural systems and seem to defy the laws of nature. “My work is mimicking the ways of nature, not necessarily mimicking nature,” she notes. Here, it might suggest cellular growth, or even the density of molecules in rolling clouds.

Gift of Gail and Tony Ganz, 2011 2011.1905

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