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Adriane Herman: Simu-Lighthouse
November 8, 2003 through January 3, 2004
Adriane Herman
Simu-Lighthouse
installation view
11 inch diameter melamine platesAdriane Herman will present "Simu-Lighthouse," an ongoing byproduct of her recent move from the "Show Me" state to "Vacationland." Living in a state where more restaurants close down than seem to remain open for the winter has affected her in ways she has not had time to process fully. Notions of the souvenir as a reminder of, or even ultimately a surrogate for, experience come as no surprise these days but are certainly more prevalent in one's daily life "Down East" than in northwest Missouri.
As tourists, we learn to accept the disappointing reality of the Grand Canyon or the Portland Head Light when we arrive on a day lacking in the spectacular clear views proffered by innumerable reproductions of professionally generated (and potentially retouched) images of the site on postcards, tee-shirts, playing cards, (and art glass reproductions of paintings of the site by Edward Hopper on page 16 of the Art Institute of Chicago's 2003 Gift Catalog). However what does this disappointment based in "inferior" experience of a site infuse into the lives of locals who experience that site on a regular or even daily basis?
Living in a society where even inveterate art viewers likely spend more each year on reproductive souvenirs of their visits to art venues than they do on original works of art has Herman wondering if the best way to insert her work into the daily life of her audience is to leapfrog over the stage of the aura-matic object straight to the souvenir. This inquiry was sparked for Herman when her mother presented her a "housewarming gift" consisting of two plastic serving trays she purchased at a dollar store in Florida. In varying degrees of on-register printing, the trays depict the "world's most photographed lighthouse," the Portland Head Light, which continues to serve as a beacon for ships rounding Cape Elizabeth's rocky coast as they leave or enter Portland Harbor. Herman now habitually visits this lighthouse with its Made in China doppelganger at the ready to bolster the experience during cold, overcast or otherwise inferior moments
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