Red Room (Child) 1994

Louise Bourgeois built this "Red Room (Child)" as an installation, a stage set, of found objects, painted red, that bring you into her particular world. It's like entering someone’s psyche, all these things that are usually hidden, put on display. What really strikes me is the color, the intense red. How it saturates everything, almost violently. There’s something really raw about that choice, and the textures. It’s like this redness is a skin, a membrane covering everything, connecting the objects in the room. And when you look closer, you see each object is chosen for it’s ability to evoke. There are spindles, recalling her childhood helping in her parents tapestry restoration workshop. Bourgeois is playing with how objects, and colors, can hold memories and emotions, and how the act of assembling them can create new, complex stories. Think of Kurt Schwitters and his Merzbau, how he used found objects to create a totally immersive environment. Both artists are interested in art as a total experience, one that envelops you and asks you to reconsider how you see the world. It’s a conversation, isn’t it?