Madeleine Preston’s ‘Tanagras Archive’ installation will be showing in Home’s Invitational exhibition opening on July 11th.

“…The work in The Tanagras Archive are based on the Louvre’s Tanagras collection. On their unearthing in the 19th century, these Greek ceramics were coveted by the French bourgeoisie as affordable symbols of wealth and taste. A large collection of the Tanagras are held in the Louvre in Paris. They are located very near to the more famous Venus de Milo and people trudge past the Tanagras not registering their singular nature, they are made of clay, their age or importance. This heirarchy of artefacts gave me a strong sense of how fashion and museology dictate the way history and the history of art is understood. It also gave me a sense of how the small and quiet can become the forgotten. I chose to recreate the Tanagras in an attempt to remember them…”

Pictured is Museum Quality, 2014, underglazed terracotta and domestic glassware, dimensions variable.

photo: Joy Lai & John Dennis.