Lexa Walsh at Guardhouse will be the second installment of this year’s The Guardhouse show. Every year, three artists turn the former army barracks into an art installation. The art is visual 24 hours a day through the windows of the guardhouse and showcases the site’s expressed cultural and herbal histories. Walsh’s installation Mourning Song (2024) emerges from his ongoing interviews with veterans to herald conversations about the complexities of war, spotting the history of Fort Mason’s army.
Walsh, a lifelong artist founded in Oakland, California, now works in the Hudson Valley. He grew up in the Bay Area’s post-punk cultural scene in the 1990s, a time that had a major influence on his work. He has been showing and performing around the world for over 25 years with his multifaceted, context-specific projects, exhibitions, articles and publications on strength and price, and the questions we ask ourselves about strength, i. e. military force.
Located on the north shore of San Francisco Bay, Fort Mason Center is a historic landmark. It functioned as a military base with a colorful history dating back to the 18th century. In the 20th century, this historic district served as an embarkation point for millions of the US military when they went to war in the Pacific.
Walsh’s facility fills the former army guardhouse with an installation of ceramics, textiles, and media work combined that resemble army medals, plaques, and other ornaments. The term “ornament” is a play on words that designates military ornaments and elements related to formal recognition. The artist incorporates elements of domestic and physical ornamentation into his ceramic sculptures, such as tassels, belts, and jewelry. Many pieces are physically connected through dark chains and braided hair referencing Victorian mourning jewelry. In Victorian times, there were formal mourning periods when widows and other family members wore black and wore symbolic jewelry in memory of their deceased. These tributes included a small painted portrait, a photograph or a lock of hair of the deceased.
Walsh’s enormous rewards are bearable, as are the weight and burden that war creates. The creation of gigantic objects invites the audience to reflect on individual and collective pain, loss, and grief as we witness the horrors of war among us and around us. A new sound collage will accompany the installation that will incorporate interviews from her 2022 Consolidated Mess assignment at Marin MoCA. During those conversations, the artist learned about veterans’ and civilian war reports.
Walsh shares, “I’m interested in how we localize the price in some wars more than others, who gets the price assigned to it, and how that price adjusts over time. » Walsh’s facility at Guardhouse serves as a place for conversation, networking and healing.
FOR-SITE was established in 2003 through Cheryl Haines, founding executive director and chief curator. FOR-SITE is committed to creating, understanding and presenting art on site, according to a press release. installations, FOR-SITE projects include Lands’ End at Ancient Cliff House (2021-2022), Sanctuary (2017-2018), Home Land Security (2016), and @Large: Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz (2014-2015), which consists of seven site-specific multimedia installations, which examine broader social issues similar to criminal freedom and culture, and International Orange (2012), an exhibition by the organization in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, which also highlights his paintings with other artists. , adding Andy Goldsworthy’s land-art installations most recently on display at the Presidio, adding Spire (2008) and Wood Line (2011).
Sharon Anderson is an artist and from Southern California. She can be contacted at mindtheimage. com
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