This exhibition is comprised of three large-scale installations wherein
expectations are undermined; what we know as familiar becomes
altered, skewed, and oftentimes turned upside down. Sandy
Skoglund: Shimmering Madness and Other Phenomena is organized
by the Norton Museum of Art. This exhibition is generously
underwritten in part by Mr. and Mrs. William E. Flaherty and through
the corporate sponsorship of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and
Brown Brothers Harriman Trust Company of Florida.
Shimmering Madness, completed in 1998, is a new installation and
photograph by Skoglund. This installation includes thousands of
multi-colored silk and Mylar butterflies on a black background. The
butterflies appear to flutter in a mesmerizing way. Multi-colored
jellybeans cover the floor and the figures, resulting in an eye-popping
artist's vision somewhere between your sweetest dream and your
stickiest nightmare.
In addition to Shimmering Madness there will be two other major
installations included in the exhibition. Walking on Eggshells is another
of Skoglund's important sculptural tableaux. Perhaps the most
complex of all Skoglund's undertakings, Walking on Eggshells, 1997,
is a tour-de-force combining large-scale cast paper bathroom fixtures,
a floor made of thousands of empty eggshells, sculptures of snakes
and rabbits, as well as a heroic-scaled hieroglyphic wall of cast paper
tiles with printed images of animal icons. This installation is a dazzling
display whose visual wealth is also reinforced by its thematic concerns,
which include popular culture, daily ritual, the history of art, and the
paganism of ancient religions.
The third installation is Skoglund's ambitious 1992 work entitled
Cocktail Party. This tongue-in-cheek work depicts a group of
mechanized figures, which are covered entirely in Cheese Doodles,
milling around a furniture-filled living room that is also covered entirely
with Cheese Doodles.
Exhibited alongside will be
the photographs of the
original installations to which
Skoglund often adds
additional visual elements, such as live models. Also, in order to
give the Norton visitor a broader understanding of the artist, a
selection of Sandy Skoglund's photographs of past installations
will also be included in the exhibition.
Smith College Museum of Art, in association with Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., Publishers, has published Sandy Skoglund: Reality
Under Siege - A Retrospective. The softcover catalogue is
available for $39.95 in the Norton Museum Store ($35.95 Norton
Member price).
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