UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — “ACCESS EXCESS,” an exhibition of installation works by Baltimore-based artist Amy Boone-McCreesh, is on view in the HUB Gallery at Penn State’s University Park campus until March 1, 2024.
Working in sculpture, collage and mixed media, Boone-McCreesh presents a maximalist take on the idea of luxury and access. Her colorful works critique preconceived notions of taste and open a door to imagining how our collective understanding of exclusivity might manifest. Her brand of luxury speaks the language of abundance, and her resultant world blossoms with excitement that flaunts the language of high fashion and design of our time.
Through an abstracted and materialistic visual vocabulary, Boone-McCreesh questions the optics of classist structures, while tantalizing with maximalist aesthetics. Highly saturated colors and a rich variety of textures create an initial attraction, while at the same time challenging assumptions of “good” taste. Cross-cultural ideas of beauty and perception of class are present, with objects of beauty often acting as determiners of worth. Boone-McCreesh partners her decorative approach with detailed and hand-driven processes often associated with craft. She combines the utilization of technology and digital components with the handmade processes to create a direct shift in value and labor. These decisions aim to mimic the arbitrary lines that are drawn in cultural markers of luxury, mass production, and the defining features of access.
Boone-McCreesh, who was born on Loring Air Force Base in Maine to a British mother and American father, explores the connections between aesthetic leanings within economic and cultural status. She has a heightened visual awareness of the ways people and spaces flaunt class, taste and access.
Boone-McCreesh received her master of fine arts from Towson University in Maryland and was awarded a two-year Hamiltonian Artist Fellowship in Washington, D.C. Her work has been included in exhibitions across the country, notably at Victori + Mo and Mixed Greens (New York, New York, 2020 and 2015); David B. Smith (Denver, Colorado, 2021); Transmitter Gallery (Brooklyn, New York, 2015); Transformer Gallery (Washington D.C., 2015); and Terrault in Baltimore. Her work has been supported by institutional exhibitions at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Goucher College in Baltimore; and Marymount University in Alexandria, Virginia. Boone-McCreesh’s large-scale works have been acquired by the Department of State in the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, Mexico (Art in Embassies, 2013); Facebook (2019); and Capital One (2018). Her work is featured in New American Paintings (issues 106 and 118) and Handmade Life, published by Thames and Hudson (2016). Boone-McCreesh also is a two-time recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council individual artist award for works on paper. In addition to her own studio practice, Boone-McCreesh is currently a visiting assistant professor of art and art history at Dickinson College.
Classes, student organizations and University offices are encouraged to visit the HUB-Robeson Galleries, a unit of Student Affairs. Inquiries can be directed to Galleries@psu.edu. For more information on this and other exhibitions, contact the HUB-Robeson Galleries at 814-865-2563 or visit the Galleries’ website. Keep up to date with the HUB-Robeson Galleries by signing up for its Listserv or following on Instagram @hubrobesongalleries.
