Isabelle Wilson
Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required
Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required is a mixed media installation challenging color, material, and gender expectations. The work that I’ve created has been built up, taken apart, and woven back together. The process disregards seeing any of the pieces as being finished and untouchable—they can always be reworked into a new format. I’m embracing my femininity through this absurd amount of the color pink and using materials and making methods like cheesecloth, hair, and sewing. I’m challenging these associations by combining it with materials and methods like plywood, 2x4s, and constructing a large-scale installation. I’m physically linking explorations on color, materials, and gender in that I see them all coexisting and fostering the development of each other. They contradict and emphasize one another. Although it’s 2020, a study into gender and feminism is far from being clear and concise. There is no neat box to check, and this installation exemplifies that.
“Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required,” 2020
Mixed media installation
8x8x9 feet
Hexagonal arrangement of installation
“Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required,” 2020
Mixed media installation
8x8x9 feet
Hexagonal arrangement with people for scale
“Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required”, 2020
Mixed media installation
4x22x9 feet
Screen arrangement of installation
A video circumambulating and entering the installation, Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required
A book documenting my installation and creative process for “Under Deconstruction: High Maintenance Required.”
“Table of Contents,” 2020
Canvas frames with cotton sheets, paint swatches, thread, pink wood stain on 4’x8’ frame
4.5×9 feet
First frame of six that serves as the table of contents, titling the following frames.
“Hot Gossip,” 2020
Acrylic and ink on paper on plywood; yarn, cheesecloth, and tulle collaged on 4’x8’ frame.
4.5×9 feet
Second frame of six titled after the paint swatch, “Hot Gossip.” It was created by collaging personal writing on plywood, cutting it a part, tying it back together with thread, and then fixing it to this larger frame with yarn, screws, and other fabric.
“Juicy Details,” 2020
Oil, hair, cheesecloth, paper on canvas; sewn to frame with thread, cheesecloth, paint.
4×8 feet
Third of six frames titled after the paint swatch, “Juicy Details.” It is a mixed media oil painting cut apart and rejoined with yarn and cheesecloth. The painting is then fixed to the larger frame with the same joining methods.
“Beauty Queen,” 2020
Paper, cheesecloth, hair on canvas; cotton pillows stapled closed and filled with bath tissue; cheesecloth, tulle, staples, hair, thread on 4’x8’ frame.
4×8 feet
Fourth frame of six titled after the paint swatch, “Beauty Queen.” It is a collaged piece of canvas with the same reference image as seen in “Juicy Details.” The pillows are created with close up photos of the larger piece; they are fixed to the wood/canvas with thread or left in a pile.
“High Maintenance,” 2020
Oil, yarn, plastic wrap on canvas; hair, cheesecloth, paper on plywood.
4.5×9 feet
Fifth frame of six titled after the paint swatch, “High Maintenance.” It combines a mixed media oil painting spliced with plywood covered in hair, paint, cheesecloth, and paper. They are tied together and wrapped to the frame with yarn and plastic wrap.