Marianne Vitale: Oh Don’t Ask Why: Kat. CFA Berlin

Why?Marianne Vitale (*1973 in East Rockaway, USA) presents larger-than-life steel sculptures, quite obviously rooted in the world of railways, in conjunction with large-scale installations, such as a wooden Wild West saloon bar, with foot rests still bearing the traces of its patrons. At the back of the bar in front of a black background, bizarre plaster masks are placed, their respective appearance formulated somewhere between horror and laughter. Her third group of works pertains to surfaces, such as old patched tar roofs, which she calls Roof or Shingle paintings. This enigmatic work again puts the spotlight on the great American Story and its failure. The artist resolves this strangeness in her text »Transformation rituals on the great frontier« where she recalls that women in America during the western expansion were prohibited from approaching furnaces during their menstrual periods; in Wisconsin there is actually a figure of speech whereby, during smelting, »the slag flows like the menstrual period of a woman«.Exhibition: CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin, 1/5–6/6/2015