Marianne Vitale: Oh Don’t Ask Why

Why?

Marianne Vitale (*1973 East Rockaway, USA) presents oversized steel sculptures, whose origins in rail transport are obvious, in combination with expansive installations, such as a wooden Wild West bar whose base still bears the signs of use by visitors. At the back of the bar, bizarre plaster masks are set up against a black background, their respective forms ranging from horror to laughter. Her third group of works is dedicated to surfaces, such as old patched tar roofs, which she calls Roof or Shingle Paintings. This enigmatic work once again throws a spotlight on the great American narrative and its failure. The artist resolves the bizarre aspect of this in her text "Transformation Rituals in the Great Frontier", where she recalls that women in the America of the westward expansion were forbidden to spend time at smelting furnaces during their menstruation; in Wisconsin there is also a saying that during smelting "the slag runs like a woman's menstruation".

Exhibition:
CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, 1/5-6/6/2015