LOOSE

A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce LOOSE, an exhibition of recent works by Fellowship APT artist Daniela Kostova. This large-scale installation consists of photographs and sculptural artifacts that climb over walls and sprawl across the floor thus activating the gallery space.

Kostova's ongoing project has been to examine the phenomenon of Adventure Playgrounds, which inspired her to build a “dangerous” playground inside her apartment where kids could play with ropes, sand, mud and fire. Addressing the numerous regulations of public space in the U.S., Kostova considered the private home setting the only “safe” place for free play. Translating concepts of this project for the gallery space, she creates a series of manipulated photo sculptures that are constricted by ropes and weights. The photos appear to be looking for ways to escape their physical limitations and the confines of the gallery, evoking a visceral and at times primal response.

LOOSE questions what is safe and what is not in our overprotective U.S. society by comparing American standards of childhood play to those of Kostova’s Bulgarian upbringing. Conquering fear by indulging in free play in the physical world offers a therapeutic effect for a culture in which fear is a pervasive force.

Image: Play Date, 2015, inkjet print on archival paper, 40x28 inch