Surreal, Narrative Installations by Christina A. West
Unscene, installation view at Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Birmingham, AL
Christina A. West is an Atlanta-based sculptor. In her current practice, the artist uses highly realistic, life-sized sculptures of human figures to build surreal, narrative installations. The combination of lifelike sculpture and minimalist abstract elements creates striking visuals that draw the viewer in for a closer look.
Screen, installation view at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
I really like the way that Christina has been playing with the human form in increasingly bizarre and fascinating compositions, in recent works. Highly saturated, monochromatic colour plays a strong role in her works Screen and Unscene -- in the former, the walls of a gallery space, along with nude human figures, are blanketed with an even coat the colour of a green screen, speaking to visual possibilities not yet realized, or existing only in some temporary, projected realm.
In Stage Left, the artist uses multiple sculptures along with constructed walls and other props to build a surreal household-esque space, with characters, that can be viewed from numerous angles. Interesting in this piece is the scale of the figures, which are not miniature but slightly downsized forcing the viewers to confront their own scale as they navigate through the space.
