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This exhibition documents an ongoing body of work that is
based on my interaction with art objects found in various
public collections in Philadelphia. Reflections are the
root of these images. The museum context for viewing art
is never as controlled or as neutral as we might think.
Things that may seem like background objects can become
foreground issues simply because of presentation. I am interested
in the sometimes-uneasy juxtaposition of works that come
from different aesthetic and philosophical positions.
For the past few years, I have worked on the
Philadelphia Museum of Art conservation crew. I am responsible
for maintaining and inspecting the artwork on display and
in storage. In the course of my time at PMA I have done
many special projects. For example, we are currently cleaning
all the Rubens tapestries in the Great Stair Hall inch by
inch, and once a year we power wash Rodin’s Gates
of Hell. Due to the fact that my attention is equally divided
between all objects, my sense of the hierarchy of the high
and low of specific objects or mediums fluctuates and is
often lost. My attitude towards the objects is ambivalent
at times and yet I find I am looking more keenly at all
sorts of things.
Washing glass is a big part of this experience.
The constant need to look sideways to clean fingerprints
and nose prints of previous viewers has led me to become
keenly aware of how the glass case acts as a partial mirror
revealing inadvertent connections between art objects displayed
throughout the gallery. In addition to the art and architecture,
sometimes I see myself or other people reflected in the
glass. In this way I am able to symbolically try things
on like a suit of chain mail.
At the same time I have been working on a
body of sculptural objects, mostly in clay. In them, I have
built variations of the cleaning tools such as spray bottles,
brushes, and air puffers that are used in daily gallery
maintenance rounds. I am interested in the transformational
possibilities of building humble disposable forms from a
precious material like porcelain. I am interested in the
relationship between these objects and the paintings described
above, and think of both bodies of work as being intimately
entwined.
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