San Diego Art Institute is pleased to present “CLOTHING STORE”, a solo project by San Diego-based artist Melissa Beck. The opening reception will take place at SDAI Project Space, 141 Horton Plaza on Thursday, December 1 from 6pm-8pm. The exhibition will run until January 1, 2017.

For “CLOTHING STORE”, Melissa Beck has created a space within a space. Already existent is a vacant storefront, vastly empty and still. Although plain, the remains of a retail store are undeniably present. In the context of a shopping mall at a time of year with the most activity, certain feelings and mindsets fill the air…tired limbs, the strain or racing against the clock and far too much movement, consumption, and congestion takes place. “CLOTHING STORE” takes its queue from the hustle of a retail store, but slows it down and merges with the home with its intimate personal spaces rendering a seeming hybrid of both a closet and a public store. Though both places often contain the same objects, both are vastly different in their atmosphere. Neither one nor the other, “CLOTHING STORE” allows for a space between the two to simply observe and contemplate one’s relationship with these objects and spaces rather than use and engage as a means to an end.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

San Diego-based Melissa Beck’s work encompasses sculpture, installation and time-based media. She is interested in the repeated use, routine, and familiarity of everyday functional objects and the human understanding of these entities. While living in Brooklyn she was drawn to the excessively painted surfaces in the subway and old apartments. The phenomenon is quite common and thus overlooked by the busy New Yorker. Melissa observed these quiet and still entities in a bustling landscape and adapted the method to her practice. Beck holds a BFA in Studio Art from Point Loma Nazarene University and an MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute. Beck is also the curator and innovator of “Graft Art” which features site-specific works in domestic spaces.