Exhibition Dates: October 1 – October 29, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1 from 6–9 pm, in conjunction with Art for Arts’ Sake
Gallery Location: 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5 pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; arthurrogergallery.com
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present pause, an exhibition of sculpture and video by Stephanie Patton. The exhibition will be on view in the New Media Room at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from October 1 – October 29, 2016. The gallery will host an opening reception on Saturday, October 1 from 6-9 pm in conjunction with Art for Arts’ Sake.
wait, 2015 | Mattress quilting, upholstery foam, cording, wood |
30 x 65 x 8 inches
pause is Stephanie Patton’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. The works included continue an exploration of issues relating to physical and mental health, and carry themes of healing, comfort and self-preservation. Patton often uses humor as a device to bring attention to these critical issues and to transform her personal experiences into something universal. This exhibition coincides with her own struggle to rebuild, along with thousands of others, after the catastrophic flooding that occurred in Southern Louisiana last month.
The large-scale, wall sculptures in the exhibition reference various emotional states and elicit reflection and introspection from the viewer. Padded, white vinyl works, sewn into deliberate bulbous patterns, are as reminiscent of the walls of personal safety rooms in psychiatric hospitals as they are of the comfort of bed pillows. Large, cursive words such as hold, keep and wait are created from mattress quilting hand-sewn over deeply padded wood forms – heavier in connotation than material. Also included is Diffuse, a video in which Patton walks on six crates of eggshells in l Love Comfort™ shoes until all of the eggshells are broken. The video explores the effort it takes to avoid confrontation with an individual harboring a short temper or mood swings, and displays the literal feeling and ultimate liberation of “walking on eggshells.”
Born in New Orleans, Stephanie Patton received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Louisiana in Lafayette and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has studied various types of vocal and comedic performance in New York through the New School, Upright Citizens Brigade and Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She has shown her work nationally and internationally including shows at the Bronx Museum of the Arts in the Bronx, New York; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Galerie Patricia Dorfmann in Paris, France. Her work is included in numerous permanent collections including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation in Los Angeles, California. She is also a founding member of The Front, the nonprofit artist collective based in New Orleans.