Emily Rooney

Upon walking into Emily Rooney's gallery, the first thing I noticed was how peaceful everything seemed. Much of her work was displayed on the ground. I think that placing her work on the ground made everything more relaxed. She had also arranged a sculptural piece in a half circle on the floor. Circles are also shapes that I find relaxed and organic. There were also stones and incense incorporated into her piece. Incense immediately take me to a very peaceful place because I used to burn them at home when I was relaxing in my room. I felt that what she had created was grasping at something peaceful and organic, though it was composed of man-made elements. For instance, a particular household object, a broom, was incorporated subtly enough for me not to recognize it upon first glance but obvious enough that it wasn't being hidden. Many of the regular objects she incorporated in her work were altered in some way, like the burnt vinyls. When first viewing the burnt vinyls, I had not realized what they were. At first, all I saw was a very interesting bowl-like sculpture. Thats what I find so subtle about Emily's work. Much of her work had been made from recognizable objects, you just don't realize it at first. I noticed that many of the objects in the room were either black or burnt. This was very interesting to me but I could not find a meaning for it.

In the second room stood what looked like some sort of tile, tabletop with a rough tub in the center. This tub resembled stone or dirt or something carved from organic material, though the structure itself was very polished and man-made looking. it was the only standing object in the room. It gave me the same kind of peaceful feel as the previous objects, but with an inorganic touch. Everything appeared to want to remind you in some way that it was not as natural as it seemed.

In the third room played a large video on the wall. It featured people dancing and singing, but in slow motion. the dancers appeared very flashy and posed. Because the audio played in slow motion, the voices became distorted and eerie. It was very dramatic. The song was very solemn and you could not make out the words. It was hard to understand what was going on, but it felt to me as if I was watching a memory. Something about the slow motion clips had me relating it to some sort of dream sequence. It seemed that whoever's memory this was, was remembering these times and sad that they could not return to them. Thats as much as I could get from what I was viewing.