ART-PRESENTATION: Paula Crown-The Architecture of Memory
Paula Crown is a multimedia artist living and working in Chicago, Illinois with a practice encompassing drawing, painting, video, and sculpture. She is interested in exploring the limits and possibilities of cutting-edge technologies and traditional media. The artist rose to prominence for her work “Transposition: Over Many Miles”, a site-specific immersive experience installed at the Miami Design District in 2014.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Paula Crown Archive
Paula Crown’s solo exhibition “The Architecture of Memory” runs as a as a partner program to the American Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Biennale di Venezia. Crown began creating installations in 2013 and has expanded her projects to include complex and advanced interventions. Her work pushes our conceptions of reality through seminal examinations of critical platforms that are the framework structures and systems around us. Studio Cannaregio, where “The Architecture of Memory” is on presentation, is a new exhibition space in the oldest part of Venice and adjacent to the Jewish Ghetto. The exhibition, consisting of a selection of three new artworks for the space, and offer a distinctive voice as an independent reflection of the Biennale theme of “Freespace”. Upon entering the space, visitors see 150 of crumpled and discarded red plastic cups strewn across the polished concrete floor. Something that leaves viewers to wonder and why it hasn’t been cleaned up. On closer inspection, however, we realize the cups are hand-painted, and have been painstakingly cast in plaster. What seemed like a cheap, throwaway object is in fact, something of value and permanence. The work addresses the mass consequences of citizens’ individual actions, namely, the devastating footprint that American consumerism is leaving as we pollute the planet. As the artist says “A disposable plastic cup is alive with art-historical and creative resonances, I had the idea to elevate this humble example of contemporary mass production to the status of sculpture”. Other works include “Chalice”, a seven-foot fiberglass sculpture that introduces a dramatic shift in scale and transforms the cup into a commanding, almost god-like form. The last work, “Venetian”, is composed of shard-like columns of colored glass, a kaleidoscopic interpretation of the original gothic stained-glass windows in the space. Crown’s multifaceted works draw upon critical references and advanced studio practices, examining public interactions and built space with significance and wit.
Info: Curator: Peter Doroshenko, Studio Cannaregio, Cannaregio 1345/D (entrance on Calle Conterie), Venice, Duration: 25/5-26/11/18, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-18:00, http://dallascontemporary.org
