THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM: DEANA LAWSON
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Poetically conveying clues to her photographs’ complex themes, Planes, the title of the Deana Lawson show at The Underground Museum, connotated levels of existence; walls of rooms; and images’ physical flatness. Most of the Rochester-born, New York-based artist’s large-scale inkjet prints portray working-class black people inside humble abodes. At first glance, they impart the impromptu effect of snapshots casually taken of friends or family for an old-school picture album. Closer observation indicates that Lawson’s scenes are highly staged, with planned compositions and figurative gestures imbued with painterly symbolism. The partially clad woman in Eternity (2017), for instance, recalls Ingres’ Odalisque as well as various cultures’ fertility goddess sculptures. The more one looks, the more Lawson’s furnished interior environments begin to seem as mysterious and intriguing as the people within them. Lighting, palette and composition imbue mundane details, such as a gold clock or a patterned couch, with dreamlike qualities.
Commonwealth Projects worked in depth to produce the exhibition for The Underground Museum, including all installation, programming and collateral.
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