Domestic Ballads

Since the mid-1990s, Patty Carroll has been examining female identity, both by way of and through domesticity. Anonymous Women is a series of portraits of shrouded women in exuberant drapery, manifested as homespun vignettes of mannequins, inundated with household objects. Carroll approaches the topic of domesticity through the lens of her own life and through other cultures. With a wry but lighthearted humor, the weight of the accouterments is couched comfortably between absolute suffocation and mere decoration.

Works from Carroll’s recent series, Flora and Fauxna will also be on view. Carroll creates ornate still-lifes, styled with ceramics birds camouflaged between colorful fabrics, artificial flowers, and household tchotchkes. The installations are gorgeous, filled with both vibrant color and subtle nuance. When peeled away, each layer recursively reveals excessive materiality, often all consuming.