Claire Ashley: Cawt, Taut, Hot …. Not
Closing Reception: Friday, September 9, 5 – 7 pm
Performance at Uptown Normal’s Roundabout: Friday, September 9, at 6pm
Claire Ashley’s two-gallery installation immerses visitors in a multisensory landscape packed with DayGlo-colored pneumatic sculptures. It consists of wildly painted plastic-coated tarps whose billowing forms range from boulder size up to floor-to-ceiling scale. Ashley subverts their heroic size, however, with a sense of the absurd: sewn patches, bruise-like colors, and creases, render the sculptures’ taut, membrane-like surfaces as bloated, cartoony organisms referencing motherhood and eroticism. These encapsulating environments are permeated in the larger space by Joshua Patterson’ soundscape, and in the smaller space by ultraviolet lighting.
During the exhibition’s closing reception, five of Ashley’s sculptures will come alive in an outdoor performance at Uptown Normal’s scenic roundabout. Powered by student performers sealed inside, the colorful organ-like forms will transform the roundabout into a surreal dance floor as they frolic in response to a live audio piece played by Patterson.