In her newest works from the ongoing Gaffer series, instrument cables
travel through fields made from layering numerous strips of gaffer tape,
the same material used to mask and stabilize cables in performance spaces.
The monochromatic field of tape holds the cables suspended in different
visual compositions as they flow in and out of the rectangular frame. The
suspended cable compositions play on the border between the geometric
and the erotic. While the layering of tape transforms the gaffer field into an
elusive surface, reminiscent of both organic materials, such as leather, and
industrial materials.
In these works, Tsabar continues her interest in gaffer tape as a hidden
utilitarian material within a performative order – a material she first used
in her works Twilight (Gaffer Wall), 2006 and Encore, 2007. This series
moves the tape from the unseen location on the stage floor to its scrutable
position on the gallery wall. Tsabar specifically calls attention to the hidden
labor associated with the material through the meticulous layering of the
tape, creating a significant thickness and a subtle textural rhythm of lines
on its surface. She further calls attention to the labor involved in their
creation by naming those who contributed to the act of “gaffering” in the
credit lines of the work. These artworks refuse to be confined to a single
category, borrowing from elements of painting, drawing, and sculpture.
They hinge the functional and the visual; while the cable running through
the work can be read as a gestural mark, and the tape itself a color field, the
works never lose their potential to actively transmit sound.