UCSD Open Studios: Crystal Z Campbell

Crystal Z Campbell

Tender-Headed, 2006

Slickster, 2007

Honor Thy Innards, 2007

Crystal Z. Campbell's works are derived in part from magical realism, though Campbell opts to mummify natural and man-made objects.� Criss-crossing of the real and the artificial is strategically used to evoke a counter dialogue to museum culture and histories of ethnographic collecting and display.� Found objects and mass-produced capitalist inventories are tangible forms Campbell uses to negotiate the slippery divide between myth and reality.�� For instance, colorful water balloons prone to rips and tears, discarded ice skates from neighbors, dead flower stems from a former admirer's bouquet, boots her father donned for war, brightly colored duct tape that distracts more effectively than it adheres, translucent spoons that crack if used ambitiously, hundreds of unused transparent trash bag liners, discarded red fire alarms with stray wires, anonymous secrets collected from residents in Johnson, Vermont and a rusted gurney are a small sample of Campbell's material base.� Campbell's affinity for wandering, collecting and constructing history pervade her creative practice which ranges from mixed-media drawings, collage, photos, installations, sculptures and public interventions.� In recent works, Campbell uses text, color and common objects to investigate the fluidity of identity and monumentalize everyday fictions.

crystalzcampbell.com

Crystal Z Campbell

Artists