a large 3D paper sculpture of a carousel with various animals

Alison Norlen: Armatures and Imaginaries

Dates May 25.2023

The armatures and imaginaries of architectural landscapes have long been a source of inspiration for artist Alison Norlen – key to finding one’s bearings within her distinct visual world. From faded amusement park rides and roadside attractions to Vegas casinos and world’s fairs, to obsolete feats of engineering like bridges and industrial forms, Norlen explores the surfaces of both familiar and forgotten sites that once represented spectacle and unsurpassed promise. Melding historical details and autobiographical references throughout this architectural terrain, her meticulous large-scale drawings document how utopia and invention inform everyday landscapes ensuring they are both, and at once, real and imagined, mundane and spectacular, functional and fantastic.