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.”

  • April 18, 2010 – October 17, 2010
  • Foyer

About Patricia Swanson

For nearly a decade, Patricia Swanson has mined urban detritus to create poetic works in collage, photography and installation. Her art work has been exhibited at Gallery 360SEE, the Old Town Art Center and the Riverside Art Center among other local spaces. She has taken classes at the Hyde Park Art Center, Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a former member of the Exhibitions Committee at the Hyde Park Art Center (1997-2007), Swanson has curated several exhibitions including Another Story (2007) and Andy Paczos: Abandoned Demolition (2009).

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