Curator's Eye: Flower Power

Exposing the dark (or sad) side of decoration, ornamentation and kitsch, Laurie's work questions how we create memories and consider the passage of time. What exactly are we sentimental for? she asks. Why do we keep the things we keep? Are the domestic crafts of mid-century housewives worthy subjects of aesthetic contemplation?

"Floralmatter" is a meditation on the role of flowers, real and artificial, in our lives - and in hers. Beneath trees constructed from alarming quantities of floral tape and silk leaves, row upon row of artificial corsages, some garnished with felt-flocked styrofoam birds and plastic pearls, are stacked in antiseptic plastic clamshells, looking simultaneously like Christmas presents in see-through packaging and rows of miniature crystal coffins housing dozens of floral war dead. It's thanatopsis in a plastic clamshell: work that embodies the seesaw of sentimentality and irony that dictate the way we see our own lives.
- E.P.

"Flowers can deliver a message of sympathy, gratitude, well wishes, apology or love. We watch them flourish and die in our house and yard. They remind us of the passage of time. They are present at our ceremonies and rites of passage. Their fragrance triggers memories. They are non-offensive. They are safe. I am starting to resent them. They are always present in my nightmares. I think I am taking their beauty for granted." -L.C.