If an apocalypse destroyed civilizationand we had to rebuild, it would definitely be a good idea to stick byMonica Canilao and Bunnie Reiss. This weekend, the two artistspremiered their three-room installation, “Little Old One,” at LoPo Gallery, convertingthe space into a veritable other-worldly habitat. Reiss and Canilaoreconfigured mundane materials into a ritualistic, meditativeshelter, arranging worn textiles and antiquated furs into geometric patternsthat radiated out of the walls.
Baroque and overwhelming to the senses,the work incorporates drawings, doilies, crystals, beads, embroidery, photographs and a variety of other found materials that come together in an organized chaos. It’s difficultnot to think of early feminist artistslike Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, who similarly createdinstallations out of a domestic space. The mannequins withpapier-mache bird heads stand proudly like female deities in the backroom, reaffirming a strong connection between craft and nature, aswell as the natural ambiance of the work. — Nastia Voynovskaya.
Photos courtesy of Cameron Van Loos
