FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kristi Engle Gallery
5002 York Ave.
Highland Park, CA 90042
323.472.6237
kristi@kristienglegallery.com

ART EXHIBITION: MEG MADISON
"RIGHTSIZING NARRATIVE"
March 20 - April 24. 2010
Opening Reception: March 20, 7-10 pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, April 11, 2pm

Barthes' words open up for examination the human predilection to answer questions through stories, and the linear orderliness that they provide. Society's need for order is, in part, satisfied by the narrative - from creation myths to bedtime stories. This month at the Kristi Engle Gallery, artist Meg Madison will be presenting a new body of work that examines these human needs.

Madison has noted that "As a child I was startled to realize my earliest memories were actually memories of viewing my Dad's home movies. The movies had seeped into my consciousness and appeared to become the memories." This recollection strongly informs her new exhibition "Rightsizing Narrative". Through both photographic and narrative fragmentation, Madison examines this difficulty in identifying and differentiating between the layers of past memory that make up the narrative of life. The series is made up of black and white photographs, a combination of documentary shots and composed scenes that are presented as diptychs.

Madison elicits imagined relationships, encouraging the creation of narrative flow between the two parts. The disjointed and vague relationships allow for an infinite number of different stories to be found in each pairing. Using enigmatic titles of well-known short stories brings another level of narrative to the compositions. The oblique nature of the chosen titles allows a viewer to interpret them anyway they would like; relationships between the titles and the compositions are mysteries that are meant to be uncovered. The titles work equally well for viewers who are familiar with the stories as well as those who are not. For those with knowledge of the original, there is the possibility of uncovering connections between the sometimes disparate photographs and the original plot.

Narratives can be seen as self-contained ideas that exist only until the last sentence is heard or read, forcing forward linear flow to halt. In a sense, the characters exist in the mind only through the storyteller's words. This leaves the reader with no conclusive ending but rather a myriad of possibilities. Even "They live happily ever after" indicates forward momentum. We are compelled to continue the story with all the options available in our own minds. This ironically makes the urge for immutable linear order almost impossible to satisfy. Madison's work provokes the viewer to explore this conundrum.

Kristi Engle Gallery devotes itself primarily to solo exhibitions of new works by contemporary artists. It is located in Highland Park, near the corner of Ave. 50 and York Blvd.

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