Carlye Packer is pleased to present Illusions of Care, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist Emily Barker.

Barker’s proprioceptive installations and sculpture force a perspective into the exclusionary principles shaping our built environments by creating environments and objects that bring into question how societal standards physically perpetuate, embody and replicate structural prejudices towards people considered “abnormal,” “divergent,” or “abject.” Their beautifully minimal works bring to the foreground the insurmountable issues facing those who are physically divergent — IE how they cannot survive health insurance systems, or how austerity laws are designed to pillage and punish for life saving care — and society’s general devaluation of those physically divergent. Their work seeks to challenge the socially constructed, invisible norms in architecture, objects, mass production, health care, and interior space that reinforce perceptions of “normalcy.”

The main title work of the exhibition, Illusions of Care, designed and fabricated in collaboration with Tomasz Jan Groza, explores the relationship between objects and human beings, specifically addressing Barker's persistent struggle with the inequities of our built environment and the estrangement that occurs when: “your kitchen, your dryer, your closet [your] bathroom…[the] sidewalk…[your] bed” become obstacles in your everyday life. Simulating the experience of being trapped within a destabilizing, physically impossible space, the work offers a powerful commentary on the physical and psychic impact of architecture on our bodies and imaginations. 

Emily Barker (b. 1992, San Diego, CA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, most recently exhibited as part of the Whitney Museum of Art’s 202A2 Biennial; and the Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt’s exhibition Crip Time alongside Mike Kelly, Isa Genzkin and Cady Noland. Barker has most recently given artist talks at the Royal College of Art and Design in London, Otis College of Art and Design, at UCLA, and at The Whitney Museum. Carlye Packer is pleased to present Illusions of Care, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist Emily Barker.

Barker’s proprioceptive installations and sculpture force a perspective into the exclusionary principles shaping our built environments by creating environments and objects that bring into question how societal standards physically perpetuate, embody and replicate structural prejudices towards people considered “abnormal,” “divergent,” or “abject.” Their beautifully minimal works bring to the foreground the insurmountable issues facing those who are physically divergent — IE how they cannot survive health insurance systems, or how austerity laws are designed to pillage and punish for life saving care — and society’s general devaluation of those physically divergent. Their work seeks to challenge the socially constructed, invisible norms in architecture, objects, mass production, health care, and interior space that reinforce perceptions of “normalcy.”

The main title work of the exhibition, Illusions of Care, designed and fabricated in collaboration with Tomasz Jan Groza, explores the relationship between objects and human beings, specifically addressing Barker's persistent struggle with the inequities of our built environment and the estrangement that occurs when: “your kitchen, your dryer, your closet [your] bathroom…[the] sidewalk…[your] bed” become obstacles in your everyday life. Simulating the experience of being trapped within a destabilizing, physically impossible space, the work offers a powerful commentary on the physical and psychic impact of architecture on our bodies and imaginations. 

Emily Barker (b. 1992, San Diego, CA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, most recently exhibited as part of the Whitney Museum of Art’s 202A2 Biennial; and the Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt’s exhibition Crip Time alongside Mike Kelly, Isa Genzkin and Cady Noland. Barker has most recently given artist talks at the Royal College of Art and Design in London, Otis College of Art and Design, at UCLA, and at The Whitney Museum.