Erika Scott: Cambium Itch

Erika Scott is known for her maximalist sculptures of detritus: an enormous hourglass floating in an inflatable pool and draped in cables; pyramids of aquariums bubbling with stagnant water illuminated by LED strips. Scott extracts the junk from consumer culture and transforms it into a sensual explosion, exciting its haptic qualities, and collapsing boundaries between object, image, and viewer. Cambium Itch takes the form of a supersized 'pin-art toy', the sensory device designed by artist Ward Fleming in 1976. Scott scales up the sensory experience of the toy and the impressions it creates, filling the gallery with junk: PVC pipes, plastic tubing, chair upholstery, lamps, and other hard-rubbish jetsam. Her oversized pin-art toy contains all the cast-offs—bodies and ideas that no longer have value, that might be too difficult to deal with—leaving only a ghostly impression on the other side the wall. The title refers to the cambium layer in plants, a tissue layer from which cells differentiate, separating into the internal structures which transport nutrients and water. If the cambium layer is interrupted, pierced, or girdled, the plant dies. Scott punctures the skin of the IMA, the PVC communications conduit penetrating the woody walls of the gallery. She taps into the cambium layer, scratching that subdermal itch where undifferentiated cells of creative thought might emerge and multiply. Supported by The Regional Arts Development Fund.