_gaia gallery presents
“Then you, my dear friend, are a damn fool”
and other illuminated manuscripts by Melissa MacAlpin

April 06 – 27
Artist reception Saturday April 14 6-9pm

Throughout history, illuminated manuscripts were a way of reassessing important stories, commemorating words in vibrant colors and gilded gold pages. The end results were unique and beautiful, and made the people reading these stories feel more connected to them. In contemporary popular culture, our stories are culled from movies, television, and the Internet. We supplement our selves by quoting and taking comfort from this new scripture.

By representing ourselves with words from specific eras, we are also commemorating the time and places that we are from. My work collects some of my own most interesting and important words picked up in mass media through my lifetime. In these pieces, words spoken by people such as Rowdy Roddy Piper, Donna Reed, Owen Wilson, Nora Ephron, and Charles Nelson Reilly are commemorated in sparkling glitter and LED lights.

Interview with Melissa MacAlpin in the JC Independent:

http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2012/04/13/a-conversation-with-melissa-macalpin-whose-lit-up-works-are-part-of-_gaias-latest/