Set Seen: Cynthia Talmadge's Class Gift, 2022

For Frieze Los Angeles 2024, Art Production Fund will be presenting the on-site public program ‘Set Seen’, featuring works that speak to constructed environments and how they relate to our perception of reality and understanding of space. These projects are in dialogue with the rich history of set design in Los Angeles and specifically the role that set designers played in camouflaging the former Douglas Aircraft Company factory at Santa Monica Airport. This program is free to the public, and select projects will remain on view through April 7, 2024.

Cynthia Talmadge, Class Gift, 2022 

Polystyrene (EPS) coated with polyurea and natural oxides and acrylic, aluminum, and resin inserts.

Exhibition to be extended through April 7, 2024 in partnership with the City of Santa Monica.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Class Gift adopts the style of large public sculpture typically found in civic settings, including college campuses. Here the looming biomorphic abstraction has been treated like a bulletin board rather than an object of aesthetic contemplation by students. As a “gift” from the previous class, the sculpture is adorned with detritus from collegiate activity;  sticky notes, flyers, lost notices, and a streaming roll of toilet paper, most likely courtesy of unseen fraternity members in a moment of post-exam revelry. Equally banal and melodramatic these additions hint at unfulfilled promises of both the academic institutions themselves as well as our aspirational views of them. 

ARTIST BIO

Born in New York, NY, in 1989, based in Brooklyn, New York. Talmadge is recognized for her paintings, photographs, and installations that explore themes inspired by the darker, more romantic aspects of contemporary Americana and tabloid culture. Talmadge's art reflects her fascination with intense emotional experiences, the portrayal of those emotions through media, and the intersection of both.