4Culture is pleased to feature work by artist Betty Jo Costanzo on e4c, beginning January 5th. Her video entitled, Topical Ointment will be added to e4c’s rotation for the next 12 months.
Topical Ointment is a short video poem reflecting love and loss. Images of reflecting, undulating water create a dream-like quality. Subtle text floats through the screens. This text, selected at random, from Dante’s Inferno (translated by Robert and Jeanne Hollander) states, “before he finished telling me his plan, I saw them coming, wings outspread, closing in to catch us.” The video footage was shot on location in Macchie, Italy.
Describing her own process, Costanzo writes; “I work in layers. Each layer tells me where to go next. And like memory, every skin has its place, but only for an instant. Then it shifts. So you see, whether the layers are paint, video, text, sound, or my body moving in time, the discovery remains inevitably mysterious.”
Betty Jo Costanzo is a Seattle-based, painter, video artist, sound mapper and performer. Many of her projects are site generated, collaborative, and continuous. Costanzo has been exhibiting for 30 years and her works are included in many corporate, private and public collections. She held a faculty position at California College of the Arts (CCA), for 16 years and has also taught in England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Cyprus. She received her BFA from CCA, and her MFA from Mills College.
This work will join the ongoing rotation of pieces by other selected artists for e4c including: Michael Lasater, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Stephen Sewell, Ben Houge, Brit Bunkley, Britta Johnson, Drew Christie, Eduardo Calderon, Jonathan Monaghan, Joseph Farbrook, Miguel Jara, Piper O’Neill, Scott Shuldt and Longhouse Media.
Learn more about e4c and how you can apply to show your work.
