Short review: Farstad + Donner Powerful Storytellers at Plug Projects

The Saints by Julie Farstad

Tucked on the south side of 670 West, Plug Projects opened its doors to two shows working

in tandem to construct a narrative of girlhood, and ultimately, motherhood. Plug is known for

bringing in out of town artists, but now have expanded their back gallery space to exclusively

exhibit local solo exhibitions. Julie Farstad, whose practice can best be described as a

surrealist hybrid of embroidery, painting, and installation, was able to use this space first for

her solo exhibition, Under The Orange Sky. The front space of Plug was dominated by the

work of mixed media installations and paintings by Crista Donner, an artist from Chicago who

utilizes the female form in narratives about our relation to home and

the notion of the colony in HOM/E\MBODY.

Our New System by Christa Donner

The entire show at Plug refers to the notion of storytelling and the capturing of dreams. In

Donner’s work, surreal scenes are isolated into ornate paintings that could fit in the palm of a

hand and constructed as parts to a whole installation. Donner’s use and denial of the edge of

her creations is key. Cut paper works, reminiscent of Swoon, hearken the sense of fragility

within these works as small pieces to be discovered. The dream-like non-linear flow of

storytelling in Donner’s pieces corresponds perfectly to that of the work of Julie Farstad.

Pioneer Saints by Julie Farstad

Although a wall and a drastic change in paint color separates Farstad from Donner, the

surreal use of space continues. Instantly, two blindfolded dolls contextualize the work with

the idea that “we are sleeping,” and the works — paintings and painstaking embroideries —

act like glass lenses to the subconscious of a child. While the dolls in the spaces of Farstad’s

work seem extremely lonely, the way that they dominate the composition gives them a real

sense of power and control over the situations they are placed in. Mountains and clay-like

objects in the landscape operate with the color palette to create an absolutely surreal “non-

world” for us to delight in entering.

This show of bad ass female mastery of medium and storytelling is up at Plug projects until

June 22nd 2014 and is on view from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays. For more info on

this show or on Plug Projects, visit plugprojects.com