Sally Heller
Hanging by a Thread (detail), 2004
mixed media
Photo courtesy of Neil Alexander

New Orleans-based artist Sally Heller creates unique structures that are at once familiar and strange by presenting mass-produced, disposable objects in unusual contexts. Through a process of subtle twists and turns she strips everyday detritus and disposable, low-end consumer goods of their original use-value, recycling them into organic forms that are repositioned in room-size installations, creating bizarre landscapes from the generic and proliferous discards of our disposable lifestyles. Fascinated by the poetics of contradictions, oxymorons and double entendres, Heller is less interested in her work’s inherent commentary on consumerism, waste and ecology than she is in seeing humor in our world’s plasticized realities.

Amused by the comedy of making fine art from the most mundane of materials, Heller states: "I have always been fascinated with the potential of mass-marketed products when viewed outside of their intended context. When making words or images out of these materials, I play on the ironies inherent in the medium... I am interested in what our culture discards and what can be made from this detritus..." Using wit as a tool for political commentary, Heller transforms weak, mundane materials into strong, solid forms and meaningful visual statements that confront perceptions of femininity, the temporality of art and culture, and the state of modern society, albeit in an irreverent, tongue-in-cheek manner.

Sally Heller has exhibited at the Contemporary Center for the Arts (Atlanta), the Contemporary Art Center (New Orleans), Socrates Sculpture Park (Brooklyn), as well as Art in General and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (New York). She holds an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (1980) as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1978).

SPECIAL EVENTS

Opening reception with talk by Sally Heller
Thursday, August 25, 4-6 pm
Peeler Art Center Auditorium

For more information about special events associated with this exhibition, please call the gallery information line at 765.658.4882