Carmen Argote's 720 sq. ft.: Household Mutations at g727
Whether it is the neutrality of the painted white on brown or the simplicity of the large geometric shapes of the cut carpet hanging from the back of the gallery g727– it is difficult to comprehend that one is looking at an art installation, and not entering a room in the process of installation or renovation. This bodes well for a piece negotiating the relationship of physical space on an artist’s psyche; the carpet is literally the entire flooring of artist Carmen Argote’s childhood home, built in 1917 in the Pico Union area of Los Angeles, cut and displayed with her family’s permission. Reminiscent of Rachel Whiteread in how she tracks interior space, Argote has painted all but the edges of the carpet in white paint, creating a latex blueprint of her home: a pathway that invites walking all the way to the back wall where the path goes straight up to the ceiling. Upstairs, the second part of the installation reveals the artist’s process and iterations of the same project (g727, Downtown).