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A set of prints depicting a living room in an apartment. The continuous scene is severed into nine sections. Figures are indicated through the addition of legs on the couch and the floor, but the characters are disembodied and anonymous. These distortions create a sense of surreality and mystery in what would otherwise be a mundane scene.

Living Room c. 2009

Ruth Marks

Reduction linocut print with collage

Undergraduate
This suite of prints explores the disruption of space, perception, and memory. Inspired by the living room and patterns in my childhood home, these prints merge how this space existed in the past versus how it is remembered in the present. This separation between reality and memory reveals a new ‘truth’ that conveys how perception changes over time. The systematic layering of relief printmaking and chine collé gradually builds a continuous space on a flat surface. The forceful severing of the composition through separate panels creates dissonances where there was once consonance between furniture and objects. The result is a flattened, surreal interior that reflects how memories alter and decay over time as well as how memory affects both past and present reality.