Mary Campbell

Finding inspiration in do-it-yourself homeowner manuals, magazine advertisements, and the loneliness of late stage capitalism, I’m interested in the theatrics of everyday life. Bemused by gender and societal roles, I take note of what captures my attention. Baskets of fake fruit. How to disguise your junk with pattern matching design tricks. Holiday décor ideas. Life hacks. Casting, sheet forming, photographing, and camouflaging, I think of these crafted objects as props in a performance. Stacking 99 slices of cast bread, taking monumental portraits of household trinkets, and photographing a tower of pencils before and after their collapse, I am poking holes in conventional modes of success. Silently steering the attention from photograph to object and back again, I invite you to engage and follow their direction. With any luck, you’ll reach a dead end.

Mary Campbell, Don't All Look at Once, 2023

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mary Campbell

Mary Campbell received her MFA from California College of the Arts and her BFA from the University of Oregon.  She has exhibited regionally at Incline Gallery and Borderline Art Collective in San Francisco, Stelo and Littman Gallery in Portland, and in NAHP’s travelling Papermaking Triennial exhibition. Her work has been featured by Bay Area’s collective On/Offsite, and Deanna Evans’ Curated Studio Visit program in New York. Campbell has been an artist in residence at Wassaic Project, Stelo Papermaking Residency, Open Windows Collective, and Vermont Studio Center. This summer, Mary will be an artist in residence at Kala in Berkeley, California.

Website: www.maryccampbell.com
Instagram: @maryccampbell