Artist Detail

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Molly Gochman

Visual Artist: Paintings - Visual Artist: Prints / Digital Art - Visual Artist: Sculpture / Pottery

About the artist: Molly Gochman is an experiential, intersensory artist working and residing in Houston, Texas. Her work provides evocative experiences through interdisciplinary-installations. In the last five years, Gochman’s work has been exhibited as far away as the Roney Gallery in Sydney, Australia, to various galleries throughout her home state of Texas including Barbara Davis Gallery, Margolis Gallery, DiverseWorks and her own space, Commune.

It is through Gochman’s inimitable personal energy that one best gets a sense of her unique artistry and vision: “I install objects in space. I manipulate architectural spaces through building topographies that seem to drip and melt from the walls and ceiling.” According to Gochman, it is through “placement” that objects become endowed with an ability to communicate a range of concepts, voyages and experiences. “Through arranging objects in spaces I create environments and experiences. This is my way of communicating what I cannot come close to expressing in words.”

Gochman became interested in this type of work because she wanted to allow viewers to enter an area where fabric, one of the main materials used in her work, would be moving fluidly around them. “I wanted the area I created to be texturally sensual. The forms I sculpt out of fabric appear 3-D. However, art is at least 4-D. It exists in time. We experience it as we move through dimensions within spaces as time passes.” Gochman’s fabric sculptures hang on walls, and according to her, they are sagging at the same rate as our skin. This is a process that one notices if one allows themselves to really see the work and to get to know it. “As time passes, this work will age similarly to us. I value the way these works change over time. They surrender to gravity, gather dust, and crack.”

Her method and inspiration in creating sculpture is unique. “Dancing is the word I use to refer to the state I enter when I am flowing with making my work. I flow in and out of this dance during the installation process. Stepping back and assessing it from a different perspective outside of the dance, either alone or with others, is always beneficial.” What occurs during the dance allows her work to integrate details that she is not able to access outside of the dance. “We all possess elementary and essential knowledge that can easily get buried under other information. Memories coalesce with this primitive understanding during the dance. Actions and intentions integrate instinctually. There is internal dialogue and debate as I move objects around while dancing. I am working from my gut.”

It is space that defines the heart of Gochman’s work. “I work within space and spaces that are defined by real and imaginary boundaries.” Most of her work has been within architectural spaces. Her work begins with exploring, and with an investigation of possibilities within boundaries. “Architectural spaces are created to shelter people and the objects that they care about. I often ask: why was the space created? Is it serving that purpose?” Gochman enjoys working within intimate architectural spaces that have a relationship to those we spend time inside everyday, such as our homes. Her work has also found its place within public settings such as yards, theatres, parks, and galleries.

Her work “esthetizes, which makes people more sensitive to everything.” Each work that Gochman creates can be connected to a concept that has been dissected and refined, yet has a larger purpose. An experience within one of Gochman’s installations has led some people to begin recognizing things such as the lace formations that trees’ shadows form on the street; it is said that her work can heighten one’s appreciation for everyday experiences.

Gochman is very influenced by the work of Agnes Martin. “I am transported through her work. She addresses the unity of life through horizon lines. Through contemplating the landscape and escaping the habits practiced, she developed other routes to know.” Other artists that she admires are Lygia Clark, Jonas Mekas, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Adrian Piper, Annette Messager, Hanna Wilke, Francesca Woodman, Sophie Calle, Maya Li, Dennis Oppenheim and Carol Rama.

Born in San Antonio, Gochman as been making art since she was very young. She began dreaming of a career in ceramics when she was in first grade. She explored painting, drawing and Super 8 film in high school, and at the age of 19 found her passion with sculpture. She created her first installations at age 22. It was then that Molly learned to develop her own method for communicating through objects and real space.

In addition to studying art in New York City and London, Gochman received her Bachelor's in Fine Arts from Guilford College in 2001 and had her first solo art exhibition in Houston, where she currently resides. In 2003 she began work on Boundaries, which evolved into the founding of Commune, L.P., an art project, company, and interdisciplinary workshop where Gochman continues to create and show her work. In 2007 she was awarded a residency at Elsewhere in Greensboro, North Carolina. Reviews of her work have appeared in the Houston Chronicle and Papercity.