CRYSTAL BRIDGES CURATORIAL ESSAY
JULIE ALPERT:
ALTARS, KEEPSAKES, SQUIGGLES, AND BOWS
By Alejo Benedetti, associate curator, contemporary art
”It’s rare that in one exhibition, exuberant masses of color can share space with melting shelves and the occasional English muffin. In the case of Julie Alpert’s Altars, Keepsakes, Squiggles, and Bows, these pairings are right at home and, in fact, become the starting points for trips down memory lane. Nearly every surface is encrusted with some degree of ornament, transforming the space into a blissful, slightly chaotic spectacle akin to squeezing the entirety of Sesame Street into Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
There’s an air of fun and a healthy tension between comfort and revulsion spilling out from Alpert’s transformation of an otherwise gray-walled gallery. This visual tug of war is key: it is spectacle used in perhaps the best way possible—as enticement towards greater reflection…”