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Object Less As we deplete the earth’s resources to manufacture and power consumer products, we destroy ecosystems. When such objects are deemed obsolete, these pieces of our contemporary material culture are consigned to landfills and further continue the sequence of ecological devastation. In response to the destructive cycle of late capitalist consumer culture, Anna Gustafson began enshrouding discarded appliances in old, white linen; a manner historically used by many cultures to prepare the dead for burial. Intrigued by this ritual, the material problem solving, the physical, repetitive labour involved, and of course, the enveloped object’s transformation, Gustafson came to understand this process as a way to individuate each item, and to honour the destruction necessary to make and power them.
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Beginning with nearly any small abandoned appliance she could find—in particular kitchenware, including kettles, toasters, pots, and irons—Gustafson’s focus soon shifted to encompass objects that might resonate more strongly and universally upon contemporary, common ground: consumer electronics such as remote controls, entertainment electronics, and film and slide projectors. By enshrouding these ubiquitous items, Gustafson’s work extends a broad address to those that hold the decision-making power behind the destruction of our natural world.
For this installation of Object Lessons, Gustafson includes the ubiquitous leaf blower. Once disruptors in our neighbourhoods, they now float mutely through their new context of decommissioned remote controls.
Anna Gustafson was conceived in Guatemala to an It throughout her lifetime has benefited from being nurture information and events through our senses and associa responses and fully absorb the information presented. narratives that resonate with the synergy between idea, and found objects. She is an honours graduate of Vanc
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February 3—August 9, 2020 er Foundation Project Space
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talian/Guatemalan mother and Swedish father. She was born in Sweden and raised in Vancouver. Gustafson’s view ed in a multi-cultural family within an immigrant perspective. An important premise of her work is that we best remember ated emotions. With a strong sensory component, her work encourages each viewer to develop their own emotional Her artistic practice combines a spare aesthetic with a sincere use of materials, and rigorous methodology to create , material, and technique. She chooses to work with a limited palette and a restricted vocabulary of natural materials couver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design). Gustafson has shown in public galleries since 1974.
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THE NEW GALLERY e
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978-1-895284-26-3
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