Jona Frank: Model Home serves as a counterpoint to the photographs from Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined, bringing the viewer back into contact with the physical environment that so powerfully imprinted the mind of Frank as a young girl.
Family photographs appear in an environment replete with toile wallpaper that playfully echoes “decisive moments” in Frank’s life, while simultaneously threatening to engulf her. Also present is the rotary phone that seemed to bring only life-shattering pronouncements and a meticulous recreation of a birthday party gone awry. Colorful embroideries both reference the handiwork traditionally associated with “woman’s work” and humorously elevate the seemingly mundane to objects worthy of real attention. Transparent sculptures of the artist, filled with suggestive artifacts such as cherry blossoms and Lucky Charms, evoke the “Visible Man” educational toy that intrigued her as a child. At the center of the exhibition stands a miniature sculptural facsimile of the artist’s childhood home, through which viewers can watch projections of the domestic tableaux unfolding within.“Entering the gallery triggers the ring of a wall phone hanging to our right. This device kicks off the story of Frank’s childhood, beginning in elementary school, when her teacher phoned Rose to say that young Jona refused to draw anything in art class. Dern’s Rose, clad in a bright, daisy-print house dress, looks upset and concerned. She has been clipping coupons at the kitchen table. But right away we notice something’s off: the scissors are bizarrely, lethally large, and Rose’s dress matches the wallpaper.”
Props
Custom Wallpaper
Storyboards
Stitching
Visible Girl
Order Jona Frank: Model Home to read essays and view images and storyboards about the making of Cherry Hill: A Childhood Reimagined. For more information, contact Jona Frank.