"My Birthday Party" by Marilyn Lowey
“My work invites the viewer to experience the play of illusion, abstraction, and the instability of meaning as the works’ appearance shifts from moment to moment.”
Still shot from Marilyn’s webcam from opening day, March 4, 2022
Carbondale Arts presented “My Birthday Party”, a solo exhibition by Marilyn Lowey, at the Carbondale Arts R2 Gallery on exhibition March 4-April 8, 2022. The public was invited to an artist talk on First Friday evening, March 4, at 5:15pm at The Launchpad to hear Marilyn speak, along with artist Simon Klein, whose solo exhibition installation “I except it: I accept it” was also on display the same dates.
Within the second room of the R2 Gallery, Marilyn created a tableau installation consisting of a period room of the 1950s, including furniture, recessed ceiling lights, and tile flooring. The room was decorated for a child’s birthday party. Projected on the floor were silhouettes of chairs in a back-to-front formation as might be arranged for a game of musical chairs. A soundtrack of Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” played in the background, stopping and starting at various points in the song.
This piece concerned the power of a parent to alter a child’s emotional state. A sour tone of voice, a sneering facial expression, or a threatening gesture can turn upside down the life of a child. Those memories retain the capacity to sting decades later. We can only bear to recall their emotional pain for a split second. It is that moment which I capture in the fleeting transformation of this room. This tableau staged a kind of memory play in which the lead character, the artist, enacted such an event from her own past.
Both exhibitions were generously supported by the Aspen Art Museum. The Aspen Art Museum is a non-collecting institution presenting the newest, most important evolutions in international contemporary art. Their innovative and timely exhibitions, education and public programs, immersive activities, and community happenings actively engage audiences in thought-provoking experiences of art, culture, and society.
This exhibition opened the same dates (March 4-April 8, 2022) as “I except it: I accept it” by Simon Klein.
Marilyn Lowey, installation artist, Aspen, CO
Marilyn Lowey’s skill in manipulating light and materials comes from a long career as a theatrical lighting designer for major concerts, stage productions, and television, work for which she earned an Emmy in 1986. Lowey continued in the industry until 2008, when she redirected herself to the making of fine art. She completed a MFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 2010, and now works full time as an artist in Aspen, Colorado. Lowey shows regularly in curated US and international exhibitions.
Click the video above to enjoy an artist talk with Marilyn Lowey from the opening night (March 4). Marilyn’s talk (with intro) begins at the 15’35” mark.
Enjoy a virtual tour of "I except it, I accept it" by Simon Klein, and "My Birthday Party" by Marilyn Lowey, on exhibition at the R2 Gallery from March 4 - April 8, 2022.