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Laurie Simmons and Peter Wheelwright , (Laurie Simmons( b. 1949)–Peter Wheelwright (b. 1949))

The Kaleidoscope House

2000
23 1/2 in. x 32 in. x 23 in. (59.69 cm x 81.28 cm x 58.42 cm)

Medium and Support: injection-molded polystyrene with accessories

Accession Number: 2001.50

Commentary

Gallery label for Walls and Beams, Rooms and Dreams, January 23 - July 31, 2016

Occupying the conceptual space between dollhouse, model, and work of art, The Kaleidoscope House is the result of the intersection between the artistic vision of photographer Laurie Simmons and the scientific training of architect Peter Wheelwright, who actually designed a house for Simmons, among many others. Conceived as a collectible object characterized by both the scaled domesticity of Simmons’s photographs and the structural soundness of Wheelwright’s buildings, The Kaleidoscope House, like all dollhouses, is equipped with a set of miniature furniture, including works of art—paintings, sculptures, and photographs—by acclaimed artists that Simmons and Wheelwright count among their friends, including Peter Halley, Mel Kendrick, Mel Bochner, Cindy Sherman, and Simmons’s own husband, Carroll Dunham. “The Kaleidoscope House came out of our shared interests in domesticity and in particular the changing practices of home and family. Our individual work in photography and architecture has focused on these issues, and the promptings of our respective children have often figured in our thinking,” Simmons and Wheelwright wrote in their statement about this piece.

Kelley Tialiou
Charles H. Sawyer Curatorial Assistant | Librarian | Archivist

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
Walls and Beams, Rooms and Dreams: Images of Home Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/23/2016 - 7/31/2016
In and Out of Place Addison Gallery of American Art , 2/16/2019 - 7/31/2019

Portfolio List Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio

This object is a member of the following portfolios:

Exhibitions: In and Out of Place

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