Robert Henry Contemporary presents Melissa Vandenberg's “Monument” at its New York venue.Melissa Vandenberg's “Monument” is an exhibition of sculpture and works on paper where the artist uses ephemeral materials such as cloth and paper, co-opts cultural symbols like flags, obelisks, gravestones, and religious iconographies. These manipulate the viewers’ feelings of nostalgia that in the process, raises questions about cultural and personal identity, power, mortality, and memory.Being both satirical and idealistic, Vandenberg’s soft monumental forms are both whimsical and ironic recontextualizations of accepted forms of our collective commemoration, of our collective history, and of personal or familial remembrance. “Untitled Gravestone” stands as a flaccid demarcation of a feminist critique. Vandenberg’s memorials are historic markers or headstone and at first glance, seem cuddly but on deeper consideration are almost aggressive in their deflation of accepted cultural norms. However, the artist alters this seemingly permanent material of stone or concrete to stuffed cloth, highlighting the fleeting qualities of memory and the sagging permanence, or is it impermanence, of power.Melissa Vandenberg graduated with a BFA from College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan (1999) and an MFA in Sculpture from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (2005). She has exhibited her works in Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, and extensively throughout the United States. She is also the recipient of many awards and numerous grants including a Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment Grant, the Al Smith Fellowship, and was recently shortlisted for the Luxembourg Art Prize. The artist explores the political landscape using national identity, folk art, ancestry, immigration, and the perception of a homeland as points of departure. Vandenberg likes to gravitate to everyday materials like matches, fabric, stickers, wood, temporary tattoos, and found objects. The multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator lives and works in Richmond, Kentucky where she is an Associate Professor of Art at Eastern Kentucky University.The exhibition is on view through May 25 at Robert Henry Contemporary, 56 Bogart St Brooklyn, NY 11206.For details, visit: http://roberthenrycontemporary.com Click on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.com Founder: Louise Blouin
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