Microcosm
The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art•Jan 24, 2025 — Mar 29, 2025
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Jenine Marsh: Microcosm is an exhibition of new sculptural works by Toronto-based artist Jenine Marsh.
In this installation, Marsh has constructed a precarious island where history, value, and utopian longing converge. The exhibition takes its title from an 1808 artist’s manual, Microcosm, which was designed for house-bound bourgeois women to help them imagine and depict the daily lives and labor of the working class. From the protective utopia of the country estate or city mansion, these hobby artists drew and painted images of another utopia: a quasi-real world of fresh air, open spaces, and a purposeful life of work. The image has all the contradictions of imagined utopias: their impossible distance and immanent closeness; an inclusionary heaven constructed from an exclusionary hell; the illusions that drive the self-delusion of separation, and vice versa.
At the center of the installation are three dismantled Canadian Pacific Rail train trunks—...More
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Microcosm
The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art•Jan 24, 2025 — Mar 29, 2025
Press Release
Jenine Marsh: Microcosm is an exhibition of new sculptural works by Toronto-based artist Jenine Marsh.
In this installation, Marsh has constructed a precarious island where history, value, and utopian longing converge. The exhibition takes its title from an 1808 artist’s manual, Microcosm, which was designed for house-bound bourgeois women to help them imagine and depict the daily lives and labor of the working class. From the protective utopia of the country estate or city mansion, these hobby artists drew and painted images of another utopia: a quasi-real world of fresh air, open spaces, and a purposeful life of work. The image has all the contradictions of imagined utopias: their impossible distance and immanent closeness; an inclusionary heaven constructed from an exclusionary hell; the illusions that drive the self-delusion of separation, and vice versa.
At the center of the installation are three dismantled Canadian Pacific Rail train trunks—...More
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