The world Olivia Erlanger creates through her installations and photography feels like a parallel universe. It takes many of the core tenants of the familiar, but inverts them, so we stumble. Something is different. Something has changed. I

In the installation ‘Missed Connections’ Erlanger explores the subtleties of human interaction, the briefest of moments preserved. Ten denim caps with the slogan “Though I like it my name is not Aldous” on the brim, alongside a pair of resin legs wearing sneakers and a Vellum poem based on a post found on Craigslist Missed Connections. The poem describes ‘the smell of warm bodies, knee socks on gals’ but we are confronted with a plastic model of humanity, a disembodied pair of legs. It is at once uniquely human but lacking a human essence and quality.

Similarly in ‘Rainbow Shift’ a rainbow light refraction is printed on steel: the elusive warmth and beauty of sun shifting through glass captured and preserved on steel. An effervescent moment captured and recreated.

Erlanger takes things close to us: memories, impressions, clothing and bedrooms and preserves them, recreating them with unfamiliar materials. Memories become visible, private moments public, a perfect balance of light and dark.

http://www.oliviaerlanger.com

Words/ Ruby Giles