Sarah Cain: The Imaginary Architecture of Love
October 2, 2015 – January 3, 2016
The Imaginary Architecture of Love, 2015, Installation view at CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC
Photo Courtesy of Nick Pironio
CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum) is pleased to present The Imaginary Architecture of Love by Sarah Cain. Cain has created a monumental painting directly on the walls and floor of the Main Gallery. As is typical of her practice, Cain has embedded objects found in situ such as cut crystal pendants, towels, and a string of wooden beads.
The Imaginary Architecture of Love (Detail), 2015, Installation view at CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC
Photo Courtesy of Nick Pironio
Cain is committed to translating lived experience into a language of color and form. Her investment in abstraction is based on her belief in its capacity to express ideas that are beyond language. Building upon a present tense call-and-response to the environment at hand, Cain attempts to expand the potential of painting by challenging its conventions. In advance of making a work on site, Cain gathers materials, inspiration, and visual cues from the outside world. Through improvisation based on her gathered materials and impressions, she makes decisions about the palette, gestures, and composition on site. The Imaginary Architecture of Love flows from the museum’s entrance lobby into the main gallery, moving through the former produce warehouse’s corners and cracks while responding to structural details such as arched windows and poured-in-place columns.
As with collaged found objects in her paintings, the titles of Cain’s works are derived from her immediate experience of the world. The Imaginary Architecture of Love is a song from HUSH HUSH’s album Pisces Iscariot. Cain’s studio based paintings and ephemeral works on site often deal with human intimacy and relationships. The Imaginary Architecture of Love refers to the ways in which peoples’ expectations and intentions build structures around relationships that inevitably transform over time. For this exhibition, Cain has created abstract portraits of the complex dynamics of navigating both architectural and emotional spaces.
The Imaginary Architecture of Love (Detail), 2015, Installation view at CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC,
Photo Courtesy of Nick Pironio
The Imaginary Architecture of Love (Detail), 2015, Installation view at CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC,
Photo Courtesy of Nick Pironio
Illustrated Catalogue
This exhibition includes a 100 page monograph titled Sarah Cain: The Imaginary Architecture of Love. Designed by Barbara Weidemann, the catalogue is focused on Cain’s recent site specific work created in the past three years. It includes more than 75 full color illustrations accompanied by new writing by Julian Myers, Sarah Lehrer- Graiwer, and Bernadette Mayer.
Press Release – Sarah Cain: The Imaginary Architecture of Love
Video courtesy Design Story Works, Inc. © 2015
SPECIAL THANKS : Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco • Galerie LeLong, New York • Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles • Julian Myers • Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer • Bernadette Mayer • Lawrence J. Wheeler – Director, North Carolina Museum of Art • Allen Thomas, Jr. • Design Story Works
AC Restaurants • AJ Fletcher Foundation • AV Metro • Capitol Broadcasting Company • Citrix • City of Raleigh • City of Raleigh Arts Commission • Duke Energy Foundation • Ella Ann and Frank B. Holding Foundation • First Tennessee Bank • Goodnight Educational Foundation • The Grable Foundation • Robert P. Holding Foundation • Hobby Properties • Hodge and Kittrell Sotheby’s International Realty • IBM Community Grants • Lenovo • William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust • Newmark Grubb Knight Frank • Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein • PNC Bank • Red Hat • Research Triangle Park Foundation • SiteLink • The C. Hamilton Sloan Foundation • Summit Hospitality Group • The Umstead Hotel and Spa • Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
WITH GRATITUDE: Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, Dean
College of Design, North Carolina State University
CAM’s educational and community programs are funded in part by the Goodnight Educational Foundation, The Grable Foundation, IBM, the William R. Kenan Jr Charitable Trust, IBM Community Grants, SunTrust and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. Family Sundaes are funded by the PNC Foundation.
