The other day I viewed the room-size installations of Amalia Mesa Bains at Berkely Art Museum. At the center of her work, Private Landscapes, is a hand-painted armoire. The wood doors are left half open to reveal a green pasture covering all three walls of the armoire. There are dresses with intricately woven patterns hanging inside it. The bottom is lined with little sculptures and other found objects. The green pasture extends outside the armoire to cover the floor around it, as if a fantastical other world has crept out into the real one. Cabinets as a motif seem to resonate across cultures, particularly post-colonial ones.
Look in the Armoire
Look in the Armoire
Look in the Armoire
The other day I viewed the room-size installations of Amalia Mesa Bains at Berkely Art Museum. At the center of her work, Private Landscapes, is a hand-painted armoire. The wood doors are left half open to reveal a green pasture covering all three walls of the armoire. There are dresses with intricately woven patterns hanging inside it. The bottom is lined with little sculptures and other found objects. The green pasture extends outside the armoire to cover the floor around it, as if a fantastical other world has crept out into the real one. Cabinets as a motif seem to resonate across cultures, particularly post-colonial ones.