like the inside

Waiting Room, Saint Paul, MN
August 15-September 30, 2020

 The confines of a bathroom encapsulate pivotal moments of self-care and examination. In the privacy of our own homes, we familiarize ourselves with a space dedicated for immediate relief, intimacy, and learning. Like the inside investigates the bathroom as an architectural and sociological phenomenon, imposed with social and cultural constructs of gender, sexuality and identity. Artist Krista Anderson-Larson (KAL) confronts our usual encounters of traditional lavatory objects in ways that highlight a personal lifelong experience of performativity.

Hygiene is no longer a routine exclusively focused upon the material body, but rather a pedagogy––or art of governance––targeting gender and sexuality. Social constructivists propose there is no inherent truth to gender and it is constructed by social expectations and compliance. To KAL, these systemic enforcements of identity are physically significant in the structure of the bathroom and are in deep need of remodeling. Her work utilizes the sensuality of bathroom fixtures and furniture that reference, and at times mimic, the body. Multiple flesh colored soap dishes stacked on another and nipples painted onto toilet backings sensualize these figures. Each piece is anthropomorphized by its soft surface quality of the porcelain and the precise color palette, as if the sculptures embody desire, insecurity, and lust. A wall dedicated to tiled work balances tension through varying undulating patterns. Viewers are encouraged to interact with the artwork by using touch as a way to contemplate our most intimate and performative behaviors. This series serves as a catalyst to redefining the normative social influence of conformity. 

Krista Anderson-Larson is a fiscal year 2019 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.