Tara Donovan

Known for utilizing common and manufactured materials as components for her installations and sculptures, Donovan has been recognized for her commitment to process. She earned acclaim for her ability to discover how the inherent physical characteristics of an object might allow it to be transformed into art. The artist goes on to explore the multiplication of these interactions, at times utilizing hundreds of thousands or millions of units, to generate powerful perceptual phenomenon and subtle atmospheric effects…

Tara Donovan’s sculptures are born of everyday materials such as scotch tape, drinking straws, paper plates, and Styrofoam cups. Donovan takes these materials and “grows” them through accumulation. The results are large-scale abstract floor and wall works suggestive of landscapes, clouds, cellular structures and even mold or fungus. She considers patterning, configuration, and the play of light when determining the structure of her works but the final form evolves from the innate properties and structures of the material itself. In her words, “it is not like I’m trying to simulate nature. It’s more of a mimicking of the way of nature, the way things actually grow.”

Many works online

Tara Donovan received a B.F.A. (1991) from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and an M.F.A. (1999) from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston…

Drawings and sculptures