Art Show: Made Up of Parts

Walking into the old studio on Southeast Fifth Avenue, an eclectic crowd enjoys wine and cheese on the forested patio, strung with Christmas lights. Faint murmurs and hints of a violin can be heard from the outside of Daacha Gallery.

Inside, what seem to be small groups of household items come alive. Abstract sculptures made of white, plastic clothing hangers scale the floor. Columns and objects resembling hands and faces made of thin, grey wire hang from the wooden ceiling panels. Photographs of bats and their captions create a narrative that draw a connective line between the animal and the hangers: “They are tired of the constant tension, isolated by the burdens they bear to carry out a single function,” one reads.

The artist behind all of it? Daniela Ettedgui, a UF sculpture major who enjoys using unexpected, everyday objects as her molding clay. Last Friday, 10/23, we attended her one-night show, "Made Up of Parts," at the gallery at 11 SE 5th Ave.

“The show is about taking materials out of context and using their inherent form to turn them into modules separate from their intended form,” Daniela says.

She chose hangers as her material for their ability to lock into one another and hold each other up. One of the more animalistic hanger sculptures “crawls” through the studio window into the show room. “It’s up to the viewer’s own interpretation to decide what they see in the sculptures; it’s all about how they read it,” Daniela says. And on Friday night about fifty attendees did just that.

But sculpture isn’t Ettedgui’s only means of creativity—she also showcased an intricately designed blouse with an expandable texture and precise detail. She plans to continue exploring her interest in material design, and we certainly look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
—Brooke Johnson