Cornelia Parker: Rorschach (Accidental III)
January 8 – February 19, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 8, 6-8 pm

In the Front Room, D’Amelio Terras is pleased to present a single sculpture by Cornelia Parker. Previously exhibited in the inaugural exhibition at the National Arts Center in Tokyo, Rorschach Accidental III (2006) consists of suspended silver plated objects such as candelabras, musical instruments, and pieces of cutlery that Parker has flattened using a 250-ton industrial press. The arbitrary symmetrical arrangement recalls the inkblot patterns of the psychological Rorschach test.

Parker’s work explores the potential of irreversible, somewhat violent processes, giving shape to the change from full to empty, round to flat, functional to non-functional. Divorced from their previous lives, these objects are resurrected after their steamrolled “cartoon death,” reanimated as carriers of metaphorical and projected meaning.

Currently, three of Cornelia Parker’s “Bullet Drawings” are on view as part of the exhibition “On Line: Drawing through the 20th Century” on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY. A solo exhibition of Parker’s work, “Doubtful Sound,” was shown at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK. Previous exhibitions include: Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK; Frith Street Gallery, London, UK; Museo de Arte de Lima, Lima, Peru; The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX; the Serpentine Gallery, London, UK; and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA. Her work is included in numerous public collections, including: the De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Tate Gallery, London, UK. Parker lives and works in London.