Shoe Field 1986

Sonya Rapoport created "Shoe Field" through what looks like a melding of digital printmaking with hand-applied collage. I like the way the tiny images of shoes dance across the surface, pinned down against a kind of ghostly doily pattern. Materially, the piece is intriguing. It's like she's taken the digital and made it physical, almost tactile. The paper has a sheen and a fragility, in contrast to the solid, repetitive design and the small but distinct photographs. See how the grid undulates, almost breathing? It reminds me of Agnes Martin, in its commitment to a non-hierarchical, all-over composition. The small images of shoes have an amateur quality in contrast to the machine generated grid, like tiny portals into a world of personal stories. Rapoport's work is very much of its time, but also timeless in its questioning of technology and the human touch. Think of the Pattern and Decoration movement, with its love of craft and the domestic. It’s all about embracing the imperfections, the unexpected glitches, the messy realities of life.