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    Lara Schnitger:
    Two Masters and Her Vile Perfume

    Lara Schnitger: Two Masters and Her Vile Perfume

    Sep 13–Nov 29, 2010

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    Two Masters and Her Vile Perfume is a highly theatrical sculptural installation featuring Schnitger's signature wood and fabric structures. Themes of metamorphosis, divinity, decay, and sadomasochism -- all of which have been present in Schnitger's past work -- will converge in an installation that will transform the SculptureCenter's central exhibition hall. The structure of the work is reminiscent of a medieval piazza or even a cathedral where adulation, commerce, and politics occupy the same space. The installation is populated by figurative forms that suggest demons, ghosts, businessmen, bikers and other more abstract forms.

    The installation puts forward a type of gothic modernity and reflects the artist's recent reading of Charles Baudelaire and in particular his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal (1857). Les Fleurs du Mal (translated as Flowers of Evil) was Baudelaire's first and best known volume of poems. He was successfully prosecuted for offending public morals based on its themes of sex, death, lesbianism, and corruption. As an exile, an observer, and a Romantic materialist, Baudelaire is a kindred spirit to Schnitger whose work derives aesthetically from the cacophony and detritus of modern urban life.

    Lara Schnitger was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1969, and lives and works in Los Angeles. Schnitger primarily makes sculpture, installation, and fabric collage but has also produced video, performance and sound works. She studied at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag, Netherlands (1987-91); Academie Vyvarni Umeni, Prague (1991-92); Ateliers, Amsterdam (1992-94); and Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan (1999-2000). Recent solo exhibitions have included Museum Het Domein, Sittard, NL, (2008); Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, traveling to Stroom den Haag, The Hague (2005); and Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, China (2002). Group exhibitions include 2008 Sonsbeek Sculpture Exhibition, Arnhem, NL (2008); Eight Sculptors from Los Angeles, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2008); Unmonumental, New Museum, New York (2007); USA Today: New American Art from the Saatchi Gallery Royal Academy of Arts, London (2006); and Shanghai Biennial, China (2002).

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    Two Masters and Her Vile Perfume is presented through SculptureCenter's Artist-in-Residence program. This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the Netherlands Cultural Services. SculptureCenter's Artist-in-Residence program is funded in part by the Milton and Sally Avery Foundation for the Arts. General programming support for SculptureCenter is funded in part by contributions from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the Kraus Family Foundation; the New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; The Greenwall Foundation; The Tides Foundation, advised by the Lambent Foundation and contributions from our Board of Trustees and many generous individuals.