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When Hell Freezes OverPost an Event »

Gallery 16

April 11 - June 1, 2008

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501 Third Street San Francisco, CA 94107
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When Hell Freezes Over
Opening reception: April 11, 6-9pm Gallery 16 is pleased to welcome back Lauren Davies in her first solo exhibition with the gallery. When Hell Freezes Over is a mixed media installation that centers on a young polar bear that was shot and killed in the seaside village of Twillingate, Newfoundland. The following year the bear was returned to the town as a prize specimen of taxidermy artistry and has taken on a second life as the main attraction of Twillingate’s tiny museum. When Hell Freezes Over presents a sculptural replica of the Twillingate polar bear surrounded by a slightly odd assortment of natural history knock-offs, much like the actual museum in Newfoundland: sparkling iceberg models made from fake sugar cubes; landscapes models that have morphed into objects of household convenience; a tattered scrap of a fleece blanket has turned into a fuzzy waterfall; an explorer’s flag that appears to be made from wood is waving over a snow ball fort that will never melt. Combining mixed media sculpture, digital prints on fabric and diagrammatic paintings, Davies' installation meshes crafts, conceptualism, and environmental concerns with questions about what comprises a museum and one town’s sense of its own history.