Carolyn Janssen “Small Baptism”
Julie Saul Gallery
This event has ended.
Julie Saul Gallery presents a solo exhibition of digital photographs and a mural by Carolyn Janssen. The images which comprise Small Baptism are photographic and painterly hybrids built from elements gleaned from personal photographs which she applies and builds up like brushstrokes. The dense universes that Janssen creates are science fiction tableau populated by roaming packs of women (self portraits) who nourish and commandeer the landscape, engaging in narratives and mini-dramas in which they build, ritualize, climb and rest. Building on the tradition of the sublime, the landscapes are otherworldly, decaying, thriving and inviting at the same time. The colors are psychedelic, fuchsia and florescent greens, unabashedly digital high octane.
In Massive Failure which measures over 9 feet, rituals are enacted, barcodes float over a seductive yet threatening terrain, and an enigmatic smile presides over the scene. Three smaller works, including the title work of the show and Healing CNTR, are gleaned from her 2011 giant billboard project in the sculpture park of the North Carolina Museum of Art as part of their Park Pictures program. Janssen deploys the priestesses to explore domesticity and desire as they wade, dive and nest.
Janssen studied textile design for her undergraduate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and photography for her MFA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 2011. Massive Failure featured in our show will also be on exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh this summer in a show called Currents.
Media
Schedule
from July 10, 2013 to August 19, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-07-10 from 18:00 to 20:00