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Genesis Belanger

AmericanAmerican
, b. 1978

Genesis Belanger crafts thought-provoking arrangements that depict peculiar renditions of everyday objects, evoking psychological depth within her mise-en-scènes. She adeptly employs various handcraft techniques such as welding, ceramics, and sewing to bring forth installations brimming with unresolved tension, poised on the precipice of temporal collapse. Drawing inspiration from the 1950s and the early days of American advertising, Belanger infuses her tableaux with a peculiar sense of lobotomized capitalist productivity. She often chooses transitional spaces like hotel lobbies or office waiting rooms as the subjects of her work. Notably, the absence of the human form in Belanger's creations allows viewers to become purposeful participants within her immersive scenes. In these captivating environments, objects metamorphose into surrogates for the female body, where stoneware lamps take the form of pursed lips, bouquets sprout fingers, and a hot dog playfully morphs into a wedge heel. Belanger's three-dimensional art, while influenced by the artistic legacies of Claes Oldenburg and Robert Gober, primarily explores the manifestation of capitalist myths on the gendered psyche. In 2021, Genesis Belanger held a solo exhibition at the Consortium in Dijon, France. Her work was also featured in a solo exhibition at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 2020, accompanied by a dedicated catalogue. Additionally, in 2019, Belanger created an installation showcased in the New Museum's Storefront Window in New York.