Christine Corday - PROTOIST Series

PROTOIST Series

Corday's first steel work entitled UNE is a three-ton form beginning the artist's PROTOIST SERIES. "PROTOIST" is a term coined by the artist to describe the intermediary state between the known and the unknown. UNE is hewn from 3 tons of raw weathering steel, standing nearly 9 feet tall with a 13 inch thick arc spanning more than 16 feet. A 2.5 foot torch-cut void runs through the center of the arc; its resulting passage replaces the artist’s hand, or the stroke, in an otherwise mechanical process and alludes to the sensory power of touch reframing the mark of man. Each piece in the series is meant to engender direct physical contact, not only to be touched but to be worn down over time by the tide of human interaction. UNE began its international tour with a debut exhibition in Chelsea under the High Line (New York City), (November 7– December 12, 2008; Curator: Beverly Allan), the Form "inspired local construction workers to make a three-inch steel effigy, which they gave to the artist as a present; what it will evoke elsewhere is anyone's guess."

The PROTOIST SERIES is conceived and constructed to be consumed by the hand. "Each piece in the PROTOIST SERIES is meant to be touched, to be entered, and even to be walked upon." The Forms are intervened for a sole evening or limited duration in locations—an abandoned interior, an urban alley, a marble piazza—that are selected to motivate the unexpected encounter.

AHN, Corday's second work in the PROTOIST SERIES was installed in the corner of a 5,000 sq. ft. art space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn: Allan Nederpelt. The 300 pound carbon steel piece supports the juxtaposition of three visible dimensional planes, reminding it’s experiencer of the intersecting choices constructing reality and the impermanence/permanence of time and place. Art reviewer Enrico Gomez spoke to AHN's "grounding resonance" saying, "It optically strums like an electric bass and has considerable gravitational pull. "

In 2011, the 60" x 120" (151 cm x 303 cm) maquette of PROTOIST Form ÆPI was previewed during the exhibition, All That Is Unseen, curated by Meg O'Rourke and Caris Reid in New York City. The title of the Form fuses the meaning and pronunciation of the Greek root "epi" (upon) from the English words epicenter and epoch with the lost sound of Latin diphthong Æ. The Form’s torch-cut center plate is an abstraction of the figurative self as plateau or stair––standing on its plane shifts a single dimension of perception by 1 and 1/2 inches thus acutely honing the senses to their most subtle realms––a quiet big bang, a floating grounded void, an intimate invitation to the unseen.

Corday lives and works in New York and has work in private collections in Dubai, Dublin, Mexico City, Madrid, Brussels, and Paris. Corday's current works include a permanent abstract installation series entitled HELDAN as well as the production of a monumental outdoor form, INSTRUMENT FOR THE OCEAN TO PLAY, that harvests tidal power to create a low-frequency sound.