Sarah Hobbs‘ piece, “Avoidance” was intriguing even in the irony of placement. The curator chose to hang the piece in a foyer which replicates the subject of the piece, a blank foyer which could be located in any suburb across America. The door even features a Palladian style fanlight and transom, popular in the suburbs. Aluminum foil has been placed over the window which evokes many layers of thoughts that can be sparked by the idea of the suburban landscape. As suburbs developed, many pastoral features replicated the patterns of large lots and curvilinear streets designed by Frederick Law Olmstead in his planning of the Riverside suburb of Chicago. However, especially in the 1990s, elements of the suburban ideal were converted. Instead of large lots with homes set in the middle, developers began to construct spacious homes that dominated the lot, set so close together that residents could see inside one another’s homes. The foil could be seen as representative of avoiding the suburban landscape outside and the neighbors that can see inside one’s private domain.
According to one of the docents in the gallery, Sarah Hobbs’ work often evokes common phobias or mental health issues. This blockage of the outside world speaks to this fear of invasion of private space the sun light piercing through the windows. Sometimes people with mental health problems see the sunlight as a dangerous element invading their space. Our flight from the urban landscape to the suburbs can be represented by this phobia’s avoidance of sunlight.
Another interpretation of the piece could be seen as the foil over the windows is shutting out nature. Instead of escaping to the suburbs to be closer to nature, we are avoiding it. With the current state of development, we are attempting to control nature, but as we see in other pieces of the exhibit, nature always will have the last word. It will claim buildings and areas after we abandon them.
Good.
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