Christina Muraczewski
September 12 - October 10, 2009

Fifth Floor is pleased to present Patterned After, an exhibition of work by the L.A. based artist, Christina Muraczewski. The show will feature an array of brightly painted stylized pillows rendered in 2-dimensions on canvas and also a series of pieces of furniture similarly rendered on flat canvases which will “furnish” the mezzanine of the gallery. Using commercial textile patterns as a kind of palette, the work directly incorporates designs and motifs from these items and re-contextualizes them into the realm of fine art.

Muraczewski’s work seeks to comment on and complicate notions surrounding modern consumer culture. The paintings usurp the imagery of Ikea, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, et al., in a manner that triggers the recognition of a familiar visual language to the viewer but offered in an unusual setting and format. The act of flattening the object onto canvas takes away its practical use value and complicates and confuses the nature of the desire for the initial object. The paintings humorously subvert the sometimes tenuous relationship between art and design.