(In)/Animate Objects, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

On October 31, performed with my installation, (In)/Animate Objects in the front window of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions.

In the piece, a mountain of decaying rag dolls towers to the ceiling, upon which their maker, the grandmother, presides from the throne of her wingback chair. Initially created for the COLA Fellowship exhibition, (In)/Animate Objects forms the second half of a diptych. Its companion, Object of Her Affection was a puppetry performance focused on a woman, who in her search for true love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects.

The performance charted Andrea Lowe’s life of heartbreak from the loss of her baby blanket to doomed romances with monumental structures. Whether it was nature or nurture that made Andrea an object sexual, she happened to be raised by someone who shared a complicated relationship with things – her grandmother. Years have passed since Andrea has fallen from Roy, a crumbling tenement she was in love with. In sorrow, her grandmother has amassed thousands of decaying rag dolls that testify to the insatiable need for love at the heart of the obsessional life.

The installation and performance was part of Reunion, LACE’s Halloween fundraiser.

LOS ANGELES
CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS

REUNION

Summoning past present future supporters of LACE, Reunion was a night of brujas, performances, ritual spaces, invocations and encounters with “el más allá” with performances by:

PROGRAM

SUPPORT

(In)/Animate Objects was made possible with funding from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, with fabrication and assistance from numerous individuals.