Coleman Burke Gallery. Portland, ME.

PROJECT GOALS:

  1. to engage street pedestrians with the inside of a venue
  2. to provide a compelling connection between the inside and outside of a space
  3. to encourage reflection on the time we spend looking inside ourselves & outside ourselves

The Coleman Burke gallery is an extremely unique exhibit space: a giant glass room inaccessible to foot traffic and viewable from both outdoors and indoors. I wanted to amplify the assets of the space and create an interesting way for pedestrians to look not just at the art, but through the art, connecting the inside w/ the outside.

On a psychological level, the time we spend looking inside of ourselves vs. the time we spend looking outside of ourselves is extremely polarized (leaning towards looking out), thanks to the invent of social media and the upswing in internet & TV usage.  I aspired to create an installation that made these two acts of ‘looking’ more well balanced and equal, so I built an installation that looked almost exactly the same from the outside as it did from the inside.

There was also a way for the outside world (passing by on Congress St.) and the inside audience (in Port City Music Hall) to connect in an intimate but safe way: by looking through the pupil of a giant eye.

neon, plaster, polystyrene, tyvek, string & acetate

18’w. 4’h. 12’d.