The Art Worm

This is one painting from an installation of over 50 individual paintings which occupy a real physical space constructed into the rooms of a house. The paintings which conceptually work together as one show the contents of a house. It is a development from the static view of an interior one sees in traditional paintings of the genre; it's a theatrical play between 3D space and 2D objects painted to look 3D. The apartment/installation comprises of a hallway, living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, each room furnished with individual, life-size paintings of the objects one would normally expect to find in any house; sofas, windows, toilet, bath, bed, even a kitchen sink filled with unwashed dishes. Some paintings like the fridge and cooker are diptychs and others, such as the windows, are triptychs and can be opened and closed thus making them interactive. The paintings with mirrors actively engage the visitor by introducing them with their own reflection into the environment and in doing so make them part of the story being enacted. Each of the internal window paintings also has a corresponding outside painting where we look into the room. There are only windows at the front and back of the apartment, the side walls are the gable ends of the house. The exterior paintings make the installation a house and not just an interior. The people portrayed in the paintings, together with the visitors, are the actors that change the house into a home and animate the installation, turning Kitchen Sink Realism into Kitchen Sink Drama: a Soap Opera Realism (which everyone can identify with). See http://mocoloco.com/art/archives/027622.php for the social commentary.