Elevata, Row 2, column 1 2002

Curator: Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons' "Elevata" at the Harvard Art Museums features mixed media on paper, with dimensions of roughly 26 by 22 inches. There is a real sense of craft evident in this work. Editor: It feels simultaneously turbulent and serene, doesn’t it? The blue washes are calming, but that stark black line and the crumpled, plastic-looking sphere introduce a discordant note. Curator: Campos-Pons' work often deals with themes of memory and displacement. The materiality here – the juxtaposition of fluid paint and these almost found objects – suggests a tension between established identity and the intrusion of external forces, maybe consumerist pressures. Editor: I agree. The use of such base materials, and the way she elevates them within a museum context, encourages us to examine art's role in constructing value and meaning. It makes you question what the institution is willing to show and how it displays the artwork. Curator: I see this piece as a challenge to the typical notions of 'high art' through its overt acknowledgment of labor and the inclusion of common materials. Editor: Yes, and it invites the viewer to reconsider the social narrative woven into these very materials.