Mari Eastman
dal 31/5/2007 al 6/7/2007
Segnalato da
31/5/2007
Mari Eastman
Emily Tsingou Gallery, London
It's you and me forever
It's you and me forever
Emily Tsingou Gallery is pleased to present the first solo show in the UK of LA-based artist, Mari Eastman.
“I like to mix it up, from a combination of restlessness and a desire for equilibrium.”
Mari Eastman's distinctive images amass in a kind of exploded sketch-book, her representational language spread across the gallery in a variety of media: tromp l'oeil paintings of wall-hung carpets, stenciling, and wall drawing. Working from an array of sources – fashion magazines, fabrics, illustrations, painting, personal snapshots and memorabilia - Eastman collects images and objects which catch her eye and evoke her fascination with their inherent story or display of beauty.
Bringing together the seemingly innocuous and banal (a German Shepherd) with the gravitas of politically charged subject matter (Lebanon), she similarly mixes popular cultural references (Beyonce and Jay Z) with the austerity and grandeur of history (Marie Antoinette). Like a notebook filled with her memories, this body of work is a non-hierarchical mosaic of the artist's preoccupations – a motley collection of fashion, decorative arts, animals, landscapes, and historical icons.
This democratic levelling is furthered by a self-conscious acquiescence to beauty regardless of the subject matter. As if through naïveté, or sophisticated adolescence, she indulges in the visually seductive, conjuring romance, behind which lies hidden the ‘real', whether frivolous, mundane or solemn.
An interest in symbolism is inherent in Eastman's work, from the influence of Odilon Redon, to the signification of emblems on Chinese ceramics. The “still-life” depiction of the quotidian may be seen as a contemporary Vanitas – a symbolism implied in such objects and the tradition a reminder of the transience of life and the futility of pleasure. None-the-less, a revelry in beauty, albeit throwaway, lies at the heart of Eastman's practice – a dreamy manifestation of artistic fantasy.
Mari Eastman lives and works in LA. Her work has been shown at the UCLA Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami) and Arnolfini (Bristol). Her work is included in the Statens Museum for Kunst, (Copenhagen)
For further information and images please contact Gina Buenfeld on 020 78395320, or gina@emilytsingougallery.com
Emily Tsingou Gallery
10 Charles II street - London