Elizabeth Alexander uses classically “domestic” materials to explore femininity, domesticity, and class. Some of her largest sculptures come from handcut wallpaper, but the artist also uses porcelain teacups, pictures from coffee table books, and other goods in her creations. The artist says that “obsession, fanaticism, repetition, and process are both my muse and method.”
“Channeling neurosis and anxiety into busywork, menial tasks, and fussing over trivial duties I am caught in a cycle of reinvention and repair,” Alexander says. “I am a domestic archeologist in pursuit of good taste. Performing an ongoing process of deconstruction and reconstruction I search for relics of the American Dream through acts of concealment and reveal. Exaggerated demonstrations of taste are processed to defy a piecemeal narrative of hierarchical society and the yardsticks used to rank one another.”
Alexander’s currently showing at Hodges Taylor in Charlotte, N.C. “I May Not Be A Lion” runs through June 18.
