Home Theater
Solo Presentation of work by Jamie Isenstein
Lullin + Ferrari, Zurich, Switzerland
October 28, 2023 to January 20, 2024
Work details below
Works included in the exhibition:
The Home Theater, 2023
Wood, books, metal, plastic, fabric, straw, bamboo, programmable music box, electrical wire
55 7/8 x 54 x 22 in
142 x 137 x 56 cm
The Home Theater, 2023 is a puppet theater of generic objects commonly used in “staged” houses for sale. In the real estate market, a house for sale is often emptied of the sellers’ possessions and re-decorated to make the house as blandly appealing as possible to potential buyers. Each object on the chest of drawers is a puppet that performs to its own song, played by a hidden music box. Once animated, the objects appear to have their own personalities and autonomy, contrary to their use as banal props. The puppets are a lamp, plastic olive branches in a metal pitcher, books, a tissue box, and a bowl of doodads made from straw. The five songs are composed by Paul Damian Hogan.
Untitled (Staged Real Estate Still Lifes), 2023
Watercolor and pencil on cotton rag paper
24 x 17.75 in each
60.8 x 45.6 cm
My exhibition Home Theater at Lullin + Ferrari, Zurich, Switzerland from October 27 – December 22, 2023 considered the practice of “staging homes” for sale in the real estate industry. For a year, I followed a real estate agent to different homes and photographed the still life vignettes I found in them. The photographs became the source materials for these watercolor still lifes. The objects are intentionally bland, generic props chosen by staging companies to give potential buyers a sense of what a house might feel like with someone living in it, but without the quirks of individual personality or taste.
Mood Clocks, 2023
Clock mechanisms, steel clock frames, wood, acrylic paint, enamel
10 x 10 x 10 in each
24.8 x 24.8 x 4.1 cm
Mood Clocks (turquoise face and red face), 2023 are part of an ongoing series of clocks that include clocks with moving text and body parts. These clocks have painted eyes and mouths ohn the hands of the clock mechanisms so that as the hands of the clock rotate, the “face” changes emotions. Many of my artworks function as unexpected automatons, where objects appear to take on lives of their own. These clocks were exhibited in my exhibition Home Theater.
Unlimited Ping Pong (Yawn), 2022
2-channel video installation
12 min, looped
Unlimited Ping Pong (Yawn), 2022 is a 2-channel video installation. In one monitor, a person yawns; another person in the second monitor appears to catch the yawn and respond with a yawn back. This person’s yawn then triggers yet another person to yawn, creating an infinite loop of yawning back and forth through the monitors. Like the Mood Clocks, this work turns video monitors into unexpected automatons. The videos feature twelve bored and tired students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and was first exhibited in my exhibition Infinite Expansion of the Rubber Band Mansion at the ICA Chattanooga at UTC in 2022.
Stages (1, 2, 3 and 4), 2023
Oil on canvas, wooden dowels, chain, hook
36 x 59 in each
Stages (1, 2, 3 and 4), 2023 are oil paintings of Zoom backgrounds that can function as real Zoom backgrounds. Each background suggests a different scene: a clock always set to just after the workday ends, a basket of laundry and a stray shoe, and a scene suggesting the subject is floating in the clouds. The requisite bookshelf is also included, but in this instance, some of the books are titled Smart just in case the viewer does not understand the intention of positioning oneself in front of books during a Zoom call. The backdrops are hung from hooks like school maps and can be changed according to the mood.