Kate Raudenbush

GLYPHS - Symbols from the Subconscious

About the Exhibition

Glyphs are symbols that convey information, emotions, energy or allegory through graphic shapes. They are similar to symbolic figures or characters, such as the Mayan or Egyptian hieroglyphs, that were historically carved in relief. For Raudenbush’s own creative practice, this abstract steel series is an ongoing exploration of personal experience, incantation, and commentary on our humanity. She crafts the glyphs to feel otherworldly, like an unearthed relic of a mysterious civilization, carrying an allegorical message that is meant to be be decoded. All of the shapes are made from the laser-cut steel “drop” from her larger sculptures, such as Star Seed, Future’s Past, Wishing Tree, As Above So Below, and others. In this way, these Glyphs are the subconscious manifestations of these heavily engineered sculptures, yet, they are composed in a flow state of a more instinctual art creation process.

When visiting this show, you will also get to see Kate Raudenbush’s first indoor installation, commissioned for the Delight Factory space: The Oculus Root Portal and Garden of Delight.

About the Artist

Kate Raudenbush is a New York-based, Burning Man-bred sculpture artist and designer. She learned early on to creatively adapt to her surroundings as her family relocated 6 times to 4 different countries by the age of 14, where she observed clearly that “the most unifying and uplifting identifiers of humanity are its cultural expressions. What we cherish and what we create represents who we are. Art is a conduit through which humanity understands itself.”

Once an intern for Mtv, and then a professional photographer in the theatre and entertainment worlds of New York City, she shape-shifted again through transformational playa dust and creative community to reinvent herself as as a self-taught sculptor, becoming one of the most prolific solo female artists at Burning Man since 1999. Kate evolved to create the first Burning Man sculpture to be collected straight from the desert and into the permanent collection of a US museum, the Nevada Museum of Art, in 2007.

Since then, she has sought to challenge herself to roam an unconventional creative path: from a remote artist residency near the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea, to the creation of a monolithic gateway sculpture leading to the Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada, to designing a massive winged soundstage in Amsterdam for Mysteryland, the longest running EDM festival in Europe. In 2019, she received the National Citizen Artist Award from Americans for the Arts at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington DC. She used her award speech to encourage US Mayors to mobilize and shape their cities to address climate change.

Kate’s words and work have been published and exhibited in shows from the record-breaking No Spectators: the Art of Burning Man exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, to the Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea, to red carpet sculptures honoring female directors for the American Film Institute Film Festival in Hollywood. Allegorical artworks have been created for international art fairs from Scope in Miami and Art SouthHampton, to festivals and civic squares in Las Vegas, Santiago Chile, Montreal Canada, Tulum Mexico, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Washington DC, San Francisco, and New York City.

Protector [Glyph #2]

Kate Raudenbush, 2019
50 h x 37 w inches
Laser cut steel, Labradorite stone
Textured powder coat
Signed on verso
Not For Sale
I made this personal artwork as a protective talisman to ward off destructive people from my life, and protect my creativity and inspiration. It was akin to the concept of asking a guardian angel / spirit to create an energetic shield around me, and be my protector. The Labradorite stone at the center is a fascinating shimmering stone that appears to contain a hologram of colors. The stone symbolizes transformation, intuition, and truth behind illusions. Worn often by healers and energy workers, this stone is interpreted as a grounding stone of protection against negativity.
Escape Velocity From The Heart of Darkness

Kate Raudenbush, 2021
38.5 h x 14.5 w inches
Laser cut steel
Custom powder coat
Signed on verso
$6,200
I created this sculpture at the end of the Pandemic and one of most collectively tumultuous years on record. It is also a personal symbol of the force of will needed to emerge from emotions, concepts, misplaced beliefs that hold you back in stuck patterns of your life. The 3 sequential rings symbolize a flight through space that breaks the sound barrier. There’s so much else to read into this, but the feeling of breaking free is the central motif of this work.
Rise

Kate Raudenbush, 2019
31 h x 8 w inches
Laser cut steel
Metallic paint
Signed on verso
$4,200
Rise is about the journey of life. Its arrow shape serves as a totem to remind me to follow the upward path, towards something greater than myself. This was created on Burn night during 2019 Burning Man, in my studio in New York City. The theme that year was Metamorphoses, and I was reminded that the only constant in life was that it was always changing. It’s up to us to choose how to ride that arrow.
Metamorphosis

Kate Raudenbush, 2019-2021
98 h x 46 w inches
Laser cut steel
Custom powder coat
Signed on verso
SOLD
This sculpture I began in the spring of 2019, on the floor of my old studio in Queens, where I felt trapped in a toxic and aggressive environment, and I wanted to flee.
This shape feels like an ancient skeleton found by a paleontologist, a discovery of a kind of missing link: the remains of a creature who was trying to grow wings and fly, but instead got trapped in the mud, their bones and wings perfectly preserved, mid-struggle. I subconsciously illustrated my own fears of stagnation .
Coincidentally: in the years it took me to finally finish this sculpture, I left that studio and faced the most personal and creative growth in my life: Picking myself out of the mud, and learning to fly, once again.
Into Temptation

Kate Raudenbush, 2021
30h x 66 w inches
Laser cut steel
Hand-applied patinas, gold leaf
Signed on verso
SOLD
This is about the unexpected re-awakening of Eros after over a year of pandemic and introspection. The focusing of unharnessed energies, whether it is through creativity or passion, can feel like an over-whelming force of nature, a current that drives me forward.
Relic of Future’s Past

Kate Raudenbush, 2011
Laser-cut steel
Hand-applied patinas
25 h x 17 w inches
Signed on verso
$5,200
This is my first attempt at a Glyph. It was made in 2011, with parts
of my 2010 Burning Man sculpture, Future’s Past. This larger work’s intention was to call into question the sustainability of humanity’s technological evolution, and create a sculptural cautionary tale that illustrated our balance with the original source codes of our planet Earth.
To me, this glyph looks like a little spirit of the digital demi-gods we bow down to everyday as we stare down at our screens, looking for answers and connection.
Worthy [Glyph #6]

Kate Raudenbush, 2019
Laser-cut steel
Hand-applied patinas
12 h x 14.5 w inches
Signed on verso
On loan from the collection of Aaron Hurvitz
Worthy is part of a symbolic incantation calling forth ascending energy and courage, emerging upwards through obstacles, and breaking through blocks. Like a seed rising to the Sun, it doesn’t ask if it’s worthy, it rises because that is what it’s meant to do.
Guardian [Glyph #4]

Kate Raudenbush, 2019
Laser-cut steel
Hand-applied patinas
14 h x 15.25 w inches
Signed on verso
$3,500
It looks like a Ninja’s throwing star (and it could be used as one). This was made at the same time, and with a similar intention to the glyph, Protector, except this arrangement was made with more focused warrior energy. This sculpture’s allegory is a defense or a force field to define sacred space, and personal sovereignty.
Balance [Glyph #5]

Kate Raudenbush, 2019
Laser-cut steel
Hand-applied patinas
15.5 x 14.5 inches
Signed on verso
SOLD
The motion of arabesques, whiplash lines and kinetic movements are teetering on a point of focus. I created this
as a fierce coat of arms for maintaining integrity and balance in life.
False Prophet

Kate Raudenbush, 2014
Laser-cut steel
Hand-applied patinas
44 h x 24.5 w inches
Signed on verso
Can be hung vertically or horizontally.
$5,200
I made this sculpture while thinking about how our digital lives are growing unchecked, an evolutionary snowball —no checks and balances on the environment, privacy or self-sovereignty—with an blind obsession with progress, profits, convenience and the capturing of our personal data. Who are the false prophets peddling the belief that technology can save us? Technology is a tool. It is humans who wield it. Artificial Intelligence is a chaos fractal.