Rosamond
Purcell: Two Rooms
October 7 – December 14, 2003
Tisch Gallery
Following Purcell’s years of success as a photographer and
author, this exhibition organized by the Santa Monica Museum of
Art is the first highlighting the artist’s sculptural installation
work.
Two Rooms features a full-size recreation of 17th Century
naturalist Olaus Worm’s Wunderkammer, set in relation
to Purcell’s long-time Somerville, MA studio and to her collections
that have been carefully reassembled in the Gallery. With over 400
objects ranging from elements of natural history to the proverbial
debris of junkyards, the assemblage invites viewers to experience
and question two systems of classification – the order of
science and the objective aesthetic choices of the artist. It initiates
a dialogue between science and art and further confronts the intersections
of issues such as natural history, collecting, and museology and
of the conversation between natural decay versus obsolescence.
Working from a detailed engraving published in 1655, Purcell recreates
Olaus Worm’s Wunderkammer complete with a narwhal
tooth, tortoise shells, animal horns and exotic skins, and other
natural elements like the branch of a tree growing around the jaw
of a horse. The other room takes the viewer on a visit to Purcell’s
studio overtaken with objects found throughout twenty years of her
trips to a junkyard in Owls Head, Maine. Piles of tattered books,
discarded automobile parts, old clocks, and obsolete machinery are
just some of the items incorporated. Overall, it is the divergence
of items between each room that give a large context to the sculptural
installation.
In addition to the Two Rooms installation curated by Lisa Melandri,
Deputy Director of the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the exhibition
at the Tufts University Gallery also features a collection of Purcell’s
photographic works from the fall 2003 release of her book, Owls
Head.
Opening Reception:
Thursday, October 9, 5:00-8:00pm
Remis Sculpture Court
Conversation:
Thursday, October 23, 2003 from 5:30pm
Please join us for a Conversation in the exhibition with the artist,
Rosamond Purcell, Katharine Park, Zemurry Stone Professor of the
History of Science and Womens’ Studies, Harvard University,
Harriet Ritvo, Arthur J. Connor Professor of History, MIT, and Andrew
McClellan, Associate Professor of Art History, Tufts University.
All are welcome.
Tisch Gallery
This exhibition has been organized
by the Santa Monica Museum of Art and curator Lisa Melandri.
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