Jennifer Vanderpool is a multi-media artist who often uses everyday materials to create site specific installations. For past installations, Vanderpool has turned shopping into an art outing, often buying in bulk, and astonishing cashiers with the quantities she brings to the check-out counters. In "ringaroundtheroise" rather than fill the exhibition space with the aroma of sugar and the delicate shapes of store-bought candy, she instead has transformed the gallery into a rock garden. Filling the entire space with white marble rock fragments (objects often found as ground covering in gardens), the viewer is invited to walk on the work and to examine the undulating landscape that Vanderpool has created. The sound of rocks being poured, sifted through and juggled permeates the gallery. As viewers walk over the rocks, they become aware of the sound of their movements and question whether the sound they are hearing is their own or the tape loop embedded within the space. Vanderpool recorded the process of emptying the bags of rocks into the gallery and loops the sound from speakers hidden below the rock flooring of the installation.

At first glance it appears as though the gallery is empty and still. As there is nothing on the walls, the patterns of rock become the focal point. One immediately becomes aware of the shimmering whiteness of the environment. Can one enter? Can one touch? The works begs to be walked on and that is Vanderpool's intention. This is an experiential work. As one wanders through the hills and valleys Vanderpool has woven into the space, the textures and differences between the individual rocks and relationship between the hard edge of the rock and the smooth white of the wall becomes apparent. A displacement occurs as viewers walk through the installation, pathways become evident, and the vibrant white of the rocks begins to diminish. Vanderpool builds this into her process.

Jody Zellan