DALLAS, TX.- Dallas Contemporary announces the exhibition by Paula Crown - Inside My Head: A Contemporary Self-Portrait which runs from 11 January - 13 April 2014.
A perpetually subjective depiction of the artist, the self-portrait provides a personal perception that is open to interpretation rather than a representation of absolute fact. In her video installation, Inside My Head: A Contemporary Self Portrait, Artist Paula Crown embarks on a modern exploration of the elusive objectiveness of the self-portrait by utilizing 3-D image technology and MRI Scans of her own brain to create an innovative depiction of the self that unite medical sciences.
Crown employs two large convex screens, mounted on customized metal frames, which face each other in the center of the space. The viewer -- standing directly between the screens -- observes the passage of seemingly abstract patterns. However, upon closer observation, these images with their pulsating accumulation of shapes and forms reveal the workings of the artist's own brain, documented via a magnetic resonance image (MRI).
The images have been manipulated by the artist with reference to techniques including the use of multiple points of perspective, sfumato, three-dimensional imaging, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Through this process, Crown identifies and describes the intersection of the internal and external, allowing the record of the data to physically build the environment. Her ingenious approach to self-portraiture literally shows us what the inside looks like.
The animation has been translated into image sonifications generated from the MRI scans. A musical score was composed by Todd Reynolds and Ben Rubin to accompany the in situ installation, creating the sounds that fill the room. Crown's use of these available technologies to amplify and monumentalize personal physiology provide insights into our lived experience. For the artist, it's all about getting closer to how we represent and understand the world.
Paula Crown is an artist, advocate, and entrepreneur. A cross-disciplinary artist, she seamlessly employs tools ranging from pencil to 3D printers. In addition to her own practice, she has facilitated design and art collaborations with sculptor Jaume Plensa; the landscape architect Mikyoung Kim; photographer Walter Niedermayr; and the Aspen Ski Company and Aspen Art Museum on Art in Unexpected Places. She is currently collaborating with fellow artist Theaster Gates on her sculpture series entitled PERforations.
Crown received her MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012 and is a principal at Henry Crown and Company in Chicago. She has spearheaded progressive initiatives in education, children’s health, environmentally sustainable business practices, and the arts, serving on the Presidential Committee on Arts and Humanities and the board of The Museum of Modern Art.
Inside My Head: A Contemporary Self Portrait will be on view in Gallery 5 at the Dallas Contemporary from 11 January until 13 April 2014.
