| Los Angeles-based artist Kirsten Stoltmann recognizes the suburbs as ground for major pathological unrest, and her new exhibition at Allston Skirt Gallery, “Rough Bush: Artifacts and Heirlooms,” takes as its icon the tumbling tumbleweed—seen through Stoltmann’s eyes as a roving plant making its way through the isolated desert and into the decorum of the suburban household. In “Rough Bush,” Stoltmann’s preoccupation with the suburbs manifests itself through knick-knacks, statuettes, tapestries and objects found in common Laura Ashley or faux antique décors, as she merges gender and racial conflicts with autobiographical association, referencing where she grew up and what she identifies as problematic within that experience. |  |
Rough Bush at Allston Skirt Gallery
Los Angeles-based artist Kirsten Stoltmann recognizes the suburbs as ground for major pathological unrest, and her new exhibition at Allston Skirt Gallery, “Rough Bush: Artifacts and Heirlooms,” takes as its icon the tumbling tumbleweed—seen through Stoltmann’s eyes as a roving plant making its way through the isolated desert and into the decorum of the suburban household.
In “Rough Bush,” Stoltmann’s preoccupation with the suburbs manifests itself through knick-knacks, statuettes, tapestries and objects found in common Laura Ashley or faux antique décors, as she merges gender and racial conflicts with autobiographical association, referencing where she grew up and what she identifies as problematic within that experience. Using found and made objects including a swank Southwestern rug, chrome and gold tumbleweeds and a coffee table with a base decoupaged in naked women and roses, Stoltmann identifies representations of women and American Indians as stand-ins for nature and spirituality, generating similarities through the use of cliché-laden images and objects. She presents these objects in conjunction with memoir photography, creating a nuanced installation relating to the above topics.
As in all of Stoltmann’s work, the elements of vulnerability and baggage are key. “Rough Bush” works to undo what every common suburban household values most—safety through stuff. It also reveals the artist’s vision of the suburbs’ feeling of safety as achieved through contrast; a web of prejudices, chemical dependencies, general misinterpretations and co-opted spiritualities teeming with underlying sexual tensions or the unknown goings-on of teens, gangs, punks, Goths and rappers are necessary so that a return home to one’s Laura Ashley decorated room feels truly safe. The exhibition puts its own value system into play with totems, knick knacks, fetishes and fine artworks, which try to be more upfront about the hidden nuances of the suburbs as a holy ground for rebellious youth, but still spurning new kinds of creativity daily.
Stoltmann received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002 and studied at the Film Department, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA in 1993-1994. Her work was shown in one-person exhibitions at Wallspace Gallery in New York City in 2006 and at The Suburban in Chicago and Sister Gallery (in collaboration with Sterling Ruby) in Los Angeles in 2005. Foxy Productions, New York, presented her work at Volta in Basel, Switzerland, 2005. Stoltmann also shines as a damn fine DJ.
