Interior with Still Life
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Weaving is a technique used to make textiles by interlacing thread. This technique can be accomplished with the use of an instrument called a loom, or by hand in various methods such as knitting, crocheting, felting, braiding, or plaiting. Polony-Mountain used a combination of loom and hand weaving techniques. And like her weaving techniques, Polony-Mountain used a combination of acrylic, cotton, and wool yarns to create her vibrant textiles.
In "Interior with Still Life," Polony-Mountain places the viewers attention on the table at the center of the composition. A bowl of fruit and small jars adorn the tabletop and the image of a pyramid and portrait hang in the background. Her use of pastels juxtaposed to neon hues creates a dynamic play with the various shapes in the work. One interesting element of Polony-Mountain's weavings is visible with a closer glance. She appears to have made many small weavings that she has hand sewn together to make one cohesive image.
A lovely example of the artist's unique ability to leap from one kind of material and form to another and to shift thematic content to create art.