If we had to hire any non-professional interior designer to redecorate our rooms, it would be Berkeley-based artist Libby Black. From the moment you walk into There’s No Place Like Home, Black’s first solo exhibition at Joshua Liner Gallery (and her first in New York City), an overwhelming feeling of, “Damn, I wish this was my foyer” overcomes the viewer. At the “entryway,” a coat rack hangs with a Gucci tennis racket, a San Francisco Giants paneled cap, and a bright-yellow umbrella with a quirky duck handle while a wall of painted lesbian-themed book covers hang on a left wall, acting as Black’s own version of a bookshelf display. “I wanted to create the essence of a room,” says Black. This is a welcoming room that you’ll want to stay in forever.
The interior gallery spaces capitalizes on Black’s knack for mixing her flat pieces with her sculptures, and black-and-white pencil drawings look outside to a darker exterior. Think of the Joshua Liner Gallery as a reverse The Wizard of Oz, where a technicolor interior looks out to a stark Kansas—except in Black’s world, it looks out to a picture of Whitney Houston’s grave. “I’m really into Whitney Houston and addiction and overdose in celebrity,” says Black.
For Black, There’s No Place Like Home truly acts as a personal introspective-retrospective, with each handmade piece representing a part of her past and present, as well as fictitious objects of her own imagination. Atop a Vivienne Westwood trunk made of paper and acrylic paint (WHY does this not exist? Take note Vivienne!) rests an Hermés tea set and a San Francisco news publication featuring a photo of Janis Joplin. Bookshelves feature Judy Blume novels, cassettes, and even that iconic J.D. Lang and Cindy Crawford Vanity Fair August 1993 cover. “That was a big cover of Vanity Fair a long time ago,” says Black. “That would be totally normal now, but it a heightened cover during that time.”
“I like incorporating luxury items with something like a Judy Blume book,” says Black. “I like to mix in things from my past.” Black also takes into account her own experience as a lesbian artist, where books such as Ann Bannon’s Odd Girl Out and Black’s painted interpretations of lesbian book covers taken from the ‘50s to ‘70s line an entire wall. “I’m drawn to the graphic titles and labels [with the books], just like these are labels like Vivienne Westwood and Hermés and Chanel,” says Black. “I was always taught that if you looked good, then you are good. It’s kind of judge-y, like we’re a facade. So [these books] are another type of facade and it’s reaching a different angle.”
There’s No Place Like Home runs through November 14
Joshua Liner Gallery
540 West 28th Street
New York, NY 10001
MAP
There’s No Place Like Home runs through November 14. Photos courtesy of Joshua Liner Gallery![]()
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The interior gallery spaces capitalizes on Black’s knack for mixing her flat pieces with her sculptures, and black-and-white pencil drawings look outside to a darker exterior. Think of the Joshua Liner Gallery as a reverse The Wizard of Oz, where a technicolor interior looks out to a stark Kansas—except in Black’s world, it looks out to a picture of Whitney Houston’s grave. “I’m really into Whitney Houston and addiction and overdose in celebrity,” says Black.
For Black, There’s No Place Like Home truly acts as a personal introspective-retrospective, with each handmade piece representing a part of her past and present, as well as fictitious objects of her own imagination. Atop a Vivienne Westwood trunk made of paper and acrylic paint (WHY does this not exist? Take note Vivienne!) rests an Hermés tea set and a San Francisco news publication featuring a photo of Janis Joplin. Bookshelves feature Judy Blume novels, cassettes, and even that iconic J.D. Lang and Cindy Crawford Vanity Fair August 1993 cover. “That was a big cover of Vanity Fair a long time ago,” says Black. “That would be totally normal now, but it a heightened cover during that time.”
“I like incorporating luxury items with something like a Judy Blume book,” says Black. “I like to mix in things from my past.” Black also takes into account her own experience as a lesbian artist, where books such as Ann Bannon’s Odd Girl Out and Black’s painted interpretations of lesbian book covers taken from the ‘50s to ‘70s line an entire wall. “I’m drawn to the graphic titles and labels [with the books], just like these are labels like Vivienne Westwood and Hermés and Chanel,” says Black. “I was always taught that if you looked good, then you are good. It’s kind of judge-y, like we’re a facade. So [these books] are another type of facade and it’s reaching a different angle.”
There’s No Place Like Home runs through November 14
Joshua Liner Gallery
540 West 28th Street
New York, NY 10001
MAP
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