Alison Owen: Subtle
301 Gallery
August 30- September 25, 2010
Owen’s installations quietly invade their environment, altering it in subtle yet significant ways. She uses simple materials such as masking tape, thumbtacks, dirt, and thread. The compositions develop in response to the physical and emotional characteristics of the site and the objects within it. She highlights the overlooked architectural details of spaces, paying attention to corners, edges, and the point where one material meets another.
Her installations and objects repurpose the things that have become invisible due to their commonness: the dust we sweep up, the scraps we throw away, the materials we rely upon but rarely see. By paying attention to these artifacts, Owen interacts with everyone who has had some impact on the gallery, the original builder, previous users of the space, decades of facilities staff, and more recently gallery visitors and students. She holds all of these past actions in a fragile balance with her own.
