Dime-Store Alchemy - Pink Room
‘Pink Room’ - an exhibition-within-an-exhibition by Portia Munson and is a part of the Flag Art Foundation’s ‘Dime-Store Alchemy exhibition’ that was on view June 5th - August 17th, 2018
Portia Munson’s works often deal with themes of the environment and feminism, and ‘pink room’ is a perfect representation of both. She’s arranged an impressive number of discarded pink objects in what appears to be a girl’s bedroom.
This installation wrestles with the idea of mass consumerism and the short-lived life that these products have. It also wrestles with the predefined roles of femininity we are all forced to accept at an early age due to the assigned aesthetic society has deemed as ‘feminine’ vs. ‘masculine’. For example, because I’m a little girl do all my toys really have to be pink?
Why can’t Barbie houses be blue? Pink may not always be the only option but it is ALWAYS an option and usually the dominant one when it comes to consuming things like razors or shaving cream.
‘Pink Room’ - is a classic representation of Portia Munson’s typical creations - “large-scale agglomerations of mass-produced plastic found objects arranged by color”
Dime-store alchemy featured 24 artists in total that elevate everyday objects (BUT I’ve just focused on Portia Munson’s ‘pink room’ because it’s phenomenal) - here's a list of all artist in the show
Kader Attia, Nayland Blake, Matthew Buckingham, Sophie Calle, Francis Cape, Mark Dion, Vincent Fecteau, Tony Feher, Ryan Gander, Robert Gober, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hiller, Damien Hirst, Josh Kline, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, Josephine Meckseper, Portia Munson, Curtis Talwst Santiago, Carolee Schneemann, Nancy Shaver, Haim Steinbach, Robert Therrien, Nicole Wermers, Rachel Whiteread
About the Flag Art Foundation
The Flag Art Foundation “is a non-profit contemporary art institution that encourages the appreciation of contemporary art among a diverse audience. FLAG also facilitates loans of contemporary artworks to museum and galleries around the world, with an extensive database of works maintained and available to curators.” - FAF Website
Portia Munson lives in the Hudson River Valley, New York and is represented by P.P.O.W Gallery
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