Mary Campbell

Instagram: @maryccampbell

Website: http://maryccampbell.com

Bio: Mary Campbell is a multimedia artist interested in the theatrics of everyday life. She finds inspiration in do-it-yourself homeowner manuals, magazine advertisements, and life hack tutorials in the midst of the loneliness of late capitalism. Casting, sheet forming, photographing, and camouflaging, Campbell approaches the objects she crafts like props in a performance. “Silently steering the attention from photograph to object and back again, I invite you to engage and follow their direction. With any luck, you’ll reach a dead end.” Campbell is a recent graduate of CCA’s MFA program where she was awarded the Dennis Leon and Cristin Nelson Graduate Merit Award. She has shown work in the Bay Area at Gallery 16, SF Camerawork, Berkeley Art Center, Incline Gallery, and Bass and Reiner; and regionally at Stelo Gallery (Portland, OR), Littman Gallery (Portland, OR), Wassaic Project (NY), and in NAHP’s traveling Papermaking Triennial exhibition (US).

Statement: Finding inspiration in do-it-yourself homeowner manuals, magazine advertisements, and the loneliness of late stage capitalism, I’m interested in the theatrics of every day life. Bemused by gender and societal roles, I take note of what captures my attention. Baskets of fake fruit. How to disguise your junk with pattern matching design tricks. Holiday décor ideas. Life hacks. I approach the objects I craft as props in a performance. Casting my arm performing different tasks, I become an actor in my artwork, and the gallery the set. The gloves serve simultaneously as costume and signified, shifting between gardening glove, work glove, cleaning glove, and miscellaneous. Interested in poking holes in the illusions we encounter in our daily lives, I’m asking the viewer to expect the unexpected and to take a closer look. Silently steering the attention from photograph to object and back again, I invite you to engage and follow their direction. With any luck, you’ll reach a dead end.