AFTERLIFE: Loved to Death

A collection of new work by Diana Falchuk

Thursday, January 6—Friday, January 29, 2005

OPENING RECEPTION:
Thursday, January 6, 2005, 8pm—10pm with DJ Vital and Anya Ruoss.

AFTERLIFE: Loved to Death evolved from Diana Falchuk's decision to get to know her primary, aesthetic attraction to things that are stitched, scraped, molded, chipped, torn or otherwise scarred from their experience in the world. Part fiction and part self-history, Afterlife explores the connection between Falchuk's body, the bodies (objects) that attract her, and the physicality of her creative process. The result is a collection of narrative sculptural objects that unite moments where abuse and neglect, love and attention cohabitate.

Falchuk imitates the appearance of life accumulated, as if each object in the exhibition has been excavated, "molded" (by mold), or unstitched into being and she rejoices in the loosely intact pieces and fresh irregularities that are her memories. A series of framed Scrapes, Scars and Blisters are made of waxy, re-sewn pantyhose crotches, wine-drenched citrus and fine fabrics stained with mold. Receiving Blanket, a floor installation, is made of her tattered satin baby blanket sewn into a Victorian frame of wax-encrusted imitation zebra skin and lit from underneath by white neon letters that spell "Welcome." Surrounded by a mound of dirt, the audience will be invited to soil their shoes and wipe their feet on the love-torn surface.

This deliberate and passionate process of building and un-building is further witnessed in We Remember Bunny, an expansive wall-mounted memorial honoring the death and life of a stuffed bunny hand-sewn in 2004 by Diana's mother. As the artist's companion for one month, the animal shared her routine and unique body experiences (eating, bathing, walking in the rain, surgery, etc.), causing its spirit and body to un-stitch and un-stuff into two, flattened selves. Loved to death, each piece of tactile skin reveals glimpses of its life and afterlife.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Diana Falchuk received her BA Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in English, with a minor in Fine Arts, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. Her wax and fiber collages are held in private collections in Seattle and Boston, and her installation, sculpture and video work has been shown at Consolidated Works, SOIL, Secluded Alley Works, the Post Alley Outdoor Sculpture Garden, the Alibi Room, Weapons of Mass Distraction and in Rivet Magazine. Artifact, a five-room installation involving performance, audio and mock-aged objects, was the culminating exhibition for the VAIN Free-Thinking studio fellowship, which she was awarded in 2003. A selection of recent projects can be seen at www.dianafalchuk.com.

* Very special thanks to the Seattle Piano Gallery for their support of Afterlife with the loan of a beautiful German Steinway. Seattle Piano Gallery is located on the corner of Denny and Western in the Northwest Work Lofts. 206-282-7101. For pictures and prices see www.seattlepianogallery.com.