Lara Schnitger

Anton Kern Gallery is proud to present the third solo show of Dutch artist Lara Schnitger in New York City. Schnitgerʼs work explores the formal and dynamic qualities of the sculptural environment. Using fabric and wood her sculptures stand by the sheer tension of an irrational network of elements. The atmosphere of the installations is like that of an abstract and artificial park, whose flimsy structures delineate monumental shapes that are strangely natural, narrative and figurative.

Bed sheets and flower curtains morph into gardens, plaid into fences and paisley into tears. Transformations that might be the handiwork of a hyperactive housewife, Schnitger's feminism is more joyful than dogmatic. Influenced by street fashion, murals, graffiti, and thrift stores, her work is a hybrid of sculpture/costume and tents that re-animate formal sculpture with patchwork and appliqué and at the same time infuse decoration with a defiant sexuality. Throughout the exhibition, assemblages leap from floor to wall in a maze of patterns and symbols. Characters and themes play a game of hide-and-seek, dodging between art and hobby, the home and the homeless, the fashionable and the naked.

Widely known in Europe and an established member of the Dutch art scene, Lara Schnitger has exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Kustwerke in Berlin and Kunsthalle in Basel. She has recently presented a project at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and is currently living and working in Los Angeles.

The exhibition has been generously supported by the Mondriaan Foundation in Amsterdam, for the advancement of the visual arts, design and museums. Opening Thursday June 20th, 2002 from 6-8 pm. The show will run until August 3rd.