Pat Swanson: Autofall

The new large-scale wall assemblage uses repurposed auto parts to muse on the fate of the American auto industry, paying homage to the beauty of these worn and misshapen objects. Patricia Swanson‘s Autofall uses abandoned auto parts, found on the streets of Chicago, to depict the downward tumble of the United States auto industry. The abandoned car parts, once functioning components of a sophisticated mechanism, are symbolic objects of industrial obsolescence. The gallery walls provide a fresh canvas to closely examine and appreciate the jagged shapes and rich surfaces that often go unnoticed on the street. The metal pieces will cascade down the walls like a metal waterfall. According to Swanson the arrangements of miscellaneous parts “suggests a downward cascade from useful and functional to fragmented and fragile.”