CLAIRE HELEN ASHLEY

Attack of the Molecule

125 S. Ridgeland Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302

inflatable 96" x 120" x 96" and flags on windows 48" x 60" each

Inflatable: Tyvek, expandable foam, spray paint, yarn, fan, paracord. Flags: polyurethane coated ripstop nylon

$6000 (inflatable)

Artist’s Note: The installation is a tongue in cheek reference to our current quarantine moment, through the lens of my sci-fi geek curiosities. The inflatable form is an abstraction of a Covid-19 molecule. I was thinking about early science fiction movies like "The Blob" or "Attack of the Monsters" from the 1950s and 60s where humanities dread and fear of death manifests itself in alien form. Applying that to the current moment I wanted to enlarge the very real threat of the Covid-19 molecule to gargantuan proportions (like the movie "Honey I Shrunk the Kids") and to make it feel like the virus has taken over our entire house. I used the flags in the windows of the house as a form of warning system, somewhat like the red crosses that historically marked the plague houses, or semaphore flags maybe.

ART-IN-PLACE is organized by CNL Productions and Terrain Exhibitions.