Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Lori Nix Builds and Photographs Miniature Disaster Scenes

Lori Nix’s first solo exhibition in Germany recently closed. Exhibited at Galerie Klüser in Munich, "The City" featured photographs of spaces left abandoned and in chaos. Though the photographs look convincingly like documentation of real spaces, they are snapshots of miniature, doll house-like dioramas the artist builds in her studio. The series, in which each staged photograph represents a snapshot of a destitute city, appears to have been captured long after an unnamed apocalyptic moment.

Lori Nix’s first solo exhibition in Germany recently closed. Exhibited at Galerie Klüser in Munich, “The City” featured photographs of spaces left abandoned and in chaos. Though the photographs look convincingly like documentation of real spaces, they are snapshots of miniature, doll house-like dioramas the artist builds in her studio. The series, in which each staged photograph represents a snapshot of a destitute city, appears to have been captured long after an unnamed apocalyptic moment.

In Map Room, old world globes are scattered in a Baroque room lined with maps and topped with a vaulted marble ceiling. The lighting makes it appear as if a thick layer of dust has settled over the precious objects. The observer feels a sense of loss, struggling to decipher the hanging maps and to define the city’s geographic location.

In contrast to the destroyed elegance of Map Room, Chinese Take-Out shows the narrow hall of a fast-food restaurant in shambles. Like Map Room, the wall decorations do not orient the viewer, but instead offer a sense of being anywhere and everywhere. “The City” could very well be any city in the world, and perhaps in this way, the series functions as a universal and prophetic warning. A glimmer of hope exists however, in Subway. In this work, the observer is placed inside a sand-filled subway car. Through parted doors, one sees skyscrapers in the distance. This image gives the observer an impression of being a lone survivor, while also suggesting life may still exist elsewhere.

Those who are curious about how Nix stages these apocalyptic scenes should visit her blog, My 8×10 Life, where she demystifies much of her process.


Lori Nix in her studio working on a diorama.


Nix’s cat invades the set.


Studio view of one of the dioramas.

Meta
Topics
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Artist and animation director Joe Vaux paints what he likes. His personal work is teeming with impish demons. His cheerful hellscapes are populated with lost souls, sharp toothed monstrosities, and swarms of wrong-doers. And yet, there’s an innocence to all of this. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview with Joe Vaux.
Vibrant and bold, Oscar Joyo’s latest body of work which was exhibited at Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, vibrates the retina; while delving into his childhood memories childhood in Malawi and themes of Afrofuturism.
Something interesting happens when when artists like Alan and Carolynda Macdonald, who have the painting fundamentals mastered, decide to subvert expectations and perplex a viewers expectations conceptually. Click to read the Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.
The concept of the Wunderkammer, aka The Cabinet Of Curiosities has been an artistic inspiration for some time, however a new show opening in November by Ryan Matthew Cohn and Jean Labourdette takes it up a notch with an exceptional show of sculptures and paintings based thematically on the subject. Click to read the new Hi-Fructose exclusive interview.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List