Visiting Artist Lecture: Penelope Umbrico 10-05-09

Penelope Umbrico has a specific work process I very much admire. She has a concise reason for every action and decision she makes within her artistic process and each project or study logically connects to the next. I can most strongly connect with her works based on consumer home improvement magazine and website images. She explores the connections between consumer and image through the examination of objects in idealistically photographed rooms such as books, mirrors, windows, pillows, etc.

Her observation of the reflection in mirrors showed objects that replaced the viewers as if they were in the room. The reflections (such as curtains, flowers, and plants) are all objects the viewer would expect to see in the room and projects themselves onto. Have you never seen a photo in a home improvement magazine and not pictured yourself in it?


Building off her mirror work, she turns to windows as another gateway in which the viewer can move into and even beyond the magazine photos. The windows act as an idealistic escape which is attainable only through the room. This promotes a desire to own the room or be in the room OR buy the products in the room. Her strongest work stems from this examination of consumerism.



Other objects within the rooms have specific projects dedicated solely to them. Open books invite the viewer into the inhabitants personal life. Black and white photographs represent the classic representation of happy family memories. Books turned backwards on shelves degrade the writings of their historical worth and reference technology as the new sole tool for research and language. Beautifully organized shelves and armoires give the viewer a sense of longing for cleanliness and order.

Her other works speak more towards images being shared between people on the internet. She examines reflections in internet posted photos and the similarities of mass photographed objects.