Andrea Selese Carlson

Artist's Statement

Objects serve as milestones in a landscape of time, culture, and meaning, surviving us as artifacts and heirlooms. We often express ourselves by kissing them, burning them, dusting them off, urinating on them, by putting them in a frame, or allowing them to be looted. They become surrogates for our identities, symbols connecting us to a larger group, or mnemonic devices reminding us of the stories we have been unconsciously told to remember.

In this exhibition, recognizable objects are foreign characters in a mythical landscape. This other world is occupied by an indigenous population of animals wearing energies as black-and-white patterned blankets. I am interested in cultural territories, where distinctions become blurred and perceptions of authenticity are bought into question. The paintings with objects are part of an ongoing series, entitled The Windigo Cycle, inspired by the cultural exchange and assimilition of my Anishinaabe and European ancestry. A Windigo, often translated as "winter cannibal monster", is a character in Anishinaabe stories who, at times, misidentifies those it consumes. The concept of consumption describes certain nuances of trade and reciprocation between different cultures.

The worth of an object as determined on the PBS television series Antique Roadshow hinges on stories. At first, the appraiser identifies the object and asks the owner how he or she came to possess it. As the ownr tells a sordid tale of how the object exchanged hands through generations or how the current owner was able to buy it for a penny at a garage sale, the value slowly increases. The story is essential to the worth of the object, especially if evidence, like receipts, letters, death certificates, or signatures of famous people can authenticate the owner's claim.

Objects are linked to story in this body of work. Beyond being the sum of their raw materials, these paintings are objects that absorb identity and are born from a cultural context. A painting is not just oil on canvas. It is a portrait, a landscape, a still life, or an abstraction, all inherently referencing cultural narratives and bound to a story as we imagine it. The intersection between story and object is an ever-present theme of these paintings.