An Elegant Mirage of Scale and Comfort (DETAIL)
2018
Framed collages, acrylic paint, archival prints, vinyl stickers
80 ft x 9 ft (4 walls)



Site-specific
installation featured at:
OPEN WORLD
Arlington Arts Center, VA

Dates:
June 16 - SEPT 30, 2018

Curated by:
Blair E. Murphy
Curator of Exhibitions, Arlington Arts Center

In this site-specific installation, An Elegant Mirage of Scale and Comfort, using the Tiffany windows in the Tiffany Gallery at the Arlington Arts Center as inspiration, I imaged virtual rooms made of paper and paint that house my framed works on paper. The title of the installation is lifted from a description of luxury outdoor furniture in a design magazine and calls to the absurdity and fantasy that wealth allows. Each wall is named after a unnecessary space with little function; Lounge, Powder Room, Atrium and Guest Room; all present a surrealist version of the ideal lifestyle.

In the framed works that pepper each space, I layer, photocopy and re-photocopy images of nature and luxury furniture from advertisements and other publications. Each image I choose is iterated - cutout, obscured, copied again and repurposed into multiple works - referencing the bevy of sponsored and lifestyle generated content that is pushed through various media feeds. In the titles, I marry magazine captions with Instagram quotes to confuse and muddle the languages we use for validation. The works combined become a surreal dreamscape that accentuates our need to mimic a lifestyle that displays a connection to the upper class and therefore, meaning. This shows how we are at the mercy of our own desires, craving the social validation that comes from performing ourselves, transforming our physical surroundings into a stage set for this constant pantomime.