Valerie Piraino’s show at Cindy
Rucker gallery fell short of the high emotional and presentation expectations
that I had preconceived before seeing the works. The research I had done of the
artist’s previous and recent work had led me to believe that her slide projections
on transplanted fireplace facades created a powerful presence of nostalgia.
Unfortunately, the appropriated fireplace façade seemed to be swallowed whole
by the gallery space. This, along with lighting that overpowered the images
projected that were made impossible to make out. The same goes for her relief
work of images of your average bedroom door. Not only did their installation
seem careless, simply leaning against a wall, but also the images were about
half the size of an actual door, a distraction that made it difficult to
connect with the work. I’m more so disappointed with the unfortunate lack of
marriage between the gallery space and the work, the two just didn’t do each
other any favors and the lack of that unification made it difficult to view the
work.
Piraino’s work is rooted in reconstructing or examining
memories of her past family homes, typically by recreating a deteriorating space
from her memory. Slide projections seem to be one of her strong suits, usually
she imposes images onto extremely ornate, almost tacky wallpapered walls with
empty picture frames, mirrors, and so on. installed. Using the carousel
projector to display images of an individual’s past to evoke feelings of
nostalgia is not uncommon; it’s something that has been almost beaten to death.
That being said, I commend her intervention of something so repeated by adding
the second step of projection plus installation, upholding the idea of a life
lived. On the same topic, the idea of nostalgia has been so misused in art
practices, often used to imply a yearning for a time that one was never a part
of when in fact it’s meant to evoke a mourning for a time already experienced
by the individual. Piraino stays true to these ideas, which lend themselves as
a vehicle to her personal examination of her memory, which I find
honest.
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