The Living Room / Paige Bartsch

3.25.2024 - 4.12.2024

01 - Exhibition Statement

The Living Room addresses where the boundaries of faith and brutality intersect. This exhibition confronts uncomfortable truths surrounding domestic violence within the sanctity of religious homes. Within the confines of the domestic space lies a paradoxical realm where the sacred and the profane collide. Here, the tranquility of home becomes a veil for abusive structures backed by teachings of christian churches. Bartsch sheds light on this dichotomy, displaying the complexities of gender dynamics, power, and abuse that pervade these environments. Bartsch translates these themes through a graphic transformation of the domestic space, taking common household objects and perverting them into masses of flesh and viscera to communicate suffering and loss. Through their practice, Bartsch advocates for the de-sanitization of trauma and emphasizes the weight of suffering.

02 - Artist Statement

With multi-media representations of the human form, I dissect and redefine social expectations of trauma and its silenced narratives. Using grotesque visuals, I create confrontational work on marginalized experiences and the inherent violence of being a minority in western society. The use of raw, fragmented body parts in my sculptures is intentional, seeking to dismantle the idealized image of the human trauma perpetuated by conventional standards. Each piece tells a story of resilience, resistance, and reclamation. Through the stark juxtaposition of beauty and brutality, I prompt viewers to question their own perceptions and biases ingrained by a white, christian, patriarchal society.