Emerging Selection 2011 – LA artist Allie POHL

Alllie POHL – sculpture & installations, videos –

Born in Winter Park, FL, 1984
Works in Los Angeles

Click here to her Website
Biography
Interview by Beatrice Chassepot (scroll down)
ALLIE POHL : IDEAL WOMAN by ERIC MINH SWENSON (scroll down)

              
“Ideal Woman” necklace                                       “Ideal Woman” Néon

 

Allie Polh Interview by Beatrice Chassepot

BCh: Why does “women/feminism“ inspire you?
Allie POHL: I am a woman. It is who I am, it is how I feel, it is the gender role I play in society.

BCh: When the viewers look at your amazing installation with Barbie’s lower body (the one with steles made of mirror), what do you want to tell us?
Allie POHL: Ideal Woman: 36-24-36, are life-size torsos on mirrored bases. I conflated Barbie’s form to fit into Western societies Ideal proportions of 36-24-36, making the figure even more ?ideal.? The slanted mirror bases allow the viewer to interact and compare themselves to this naturally unachievable standard. The forms are made out of rubber and foam allowing the viewer to touch, and mold the ideal. The mirrors demonstrate that the viewer is the most fundamental aspect of the work. The work is not only to size with the form but as the viewers move around the work, the work transforms and forces one to question if what you see is in fact a truth, an ideal. The reflection of outside world in the mirror acts as the invisible support by consumer society of this Idealized female form.

BCh: You were born in Winter Park, FL, then you went to New York for graphic design, then to Denver where you received your MFA, and finally you moved to L.A. last year. What do you like in Los Angeles?
Allie POHL: I love biking on the bike path on the beach, hiking in temescal, the weather, and food.

BCh: With whom artist do you feel related to
Allie POHL: Donald Judd; Pipiloti Rist’s video work; Yoyoi Kusama’s and Warhol’s use of repetition; Barbara Kruger; Barbara Zucker’s humor in her before and after sculpture series; Tracey Emin’s rawness and confrontation; Sarah Lucas; Sophie Calles honesty, and, Julian Opie’s videos are so sexy!

Los Angeles, December 22nd, 2011

 

ALLIE POHL : IDEAL WOMAN by ERIC MINH SWENSON on Vimeo.