Showing posts with label Pittsburgh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

The Mattress Factory (An Art Museum in Pittsburgh)- Part 2 of 2

Slightly menacing glass eyes...


                        ...'peer out' from within a massive corrugated cardboard...
      

                                                  ...and found object sculpture.



                                           If you dare, you can enter this world...



                                       ...and experience the light and shadow...



                                                  ...of this curious enclosure...



                                                        ...from the inside-out!



                                     Installed like a sitting room in a small home...



                                              ...complete with siding, windows...



                                                ...and rustic, twig porch chairs...



                     ...(just how do they make those fabric puff cushions, anyway?)...



                                            ...is a very unnerving family tableau!



                                                         Mirror-clad rooms...



                               ...complete with mannequins and giant polka dots...



                                            ...delight and confound the senses...



                 ...and blighted objects like old stereo speakers or discarded signs...

                                                   ...are elevated to 'high art'...



                                               ...with a bit of slicing and dicing...

                                                           ...and a good eye.




                                  Next time: I visit edible schoolyards in Erie, PA.

Monday, August 8, 2016

The Mattress Factory (An Art Museum in Pittsburgh)- Part 1 of 2

From otherworldly...


                                                 ...neuronal light installations...



                          ...to bent sheet metal sculptures that defy explanation...



                           ...this contemporary art museum and experimental lab....



                                             ...located in downtown Pittsburgh...

                                              ...is an uneven and curious place!



                                   There's a cunningly fitted, large wooden orifice...

                                ...set into the floor of a mysteriously locked room...



                                                 ...which, one floor below...

                            ...is revealed to be a chute into the wider world beyond.

                                         (The reason for the lock is now obvious!)



                                       There are bisected books and other objects...



                                                ...like inanimate passe-muraille



                                 A room is filled with sensitive electronic sensors...

                         ...all programmed to react dramatically to fallen 'space junk'.



                        There are everyday objects gilded with 'gold leaves' (cheeky)...



                                              ...umbrellas hung as light fixtures...



                                       ...and beds, bolsters and reading lamps...

                    ...which can be shifted from one room to the other, as required.



                                     Tongue in cheek technological commentary...

                  ...comes in the form of fake cats curled atop a different kind of lap...
  

                                                 ...and in disembodied hands...



                                                 ...endlessly scrolling the net.



         Next time: a marvel of cardboard, found objects and stained glass construction.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

A Weekend in Pittsburgh- Part 2 of 2

The Society for Contemporary Craft...


                                ...is currently exhibiting a show entitled, "Mindful:...



                                          ...Exploring Mental Health Through Art".



                                                       Themes of resiliency...





                                                           ...compassion...



                                                         ...and mindfulness...


                                            ...are explored using various media...


                                                  ...in this wonderful space.









                      I was especially taken with the figures created by Grace Kubilius...     



                            ...made from burlap, canvas, string and found objects...





                                        ...with Meredith Grimsley's textile piece...



                                                            ...on genetics...





                                                     ...and family dysfunction...



                                             ...and with Alison Saar's evocative...



                                                       ...'Pret-a-Porter'.