Wendy Artin's art reminds me of those human statues found on so many squares in Europe.

These statues wear strange costumes that must be suffocating in the summer, especially as they can stand motionless for hours. On occasion, especially when a tourist drops a coin in the statue’s hat or bowl, the statue will perform a short, mirthy gesture to express its gratitude or a pirouette that lasts four or fewer seconds before returning to its motionless condition. Some can remain motionless for very long stretches and seem frozen after staring at the Medusa, while others are so well sculpted that they meld into the crowd and do not stand out until you realize they are totally still.

Artin's work catches both conditions perfectly and oscillates between the effortless grace and fluency of the human body asked not to move for a few seconds and the stillness of marble that craves to move and does move and finally speaks in the enigmatic tongue of watercolor brushstrokes.

The body moved, the statue doesn't — or Artin suggests, it is always going to be the other way around. One is not meant to know.  

André Aciman
October 2019