The Atelier Gallery at Stoneham Theatre
The Pleasures of Modern Living by Nadine Boughton
On display through January 24, 2009
November 1, 2008 (Winchester, MA) Growing up in suburban, mid-century America, Nadine Boughton loved all things "modern"--frozen foods, sprawling homes and lawns, leisure time, and all the new products to consume. To her, suburbia appeared as an ordered universe, sleek and spacious.
The Pleasures of Modern Living, an exhibit of her digital collages, is featured in The Griffin Museum's Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, November 26 through January 24. The exhibition runs parallel to the theater's performance of It's a Wonderful Life.
"As an artist, I am drawn back to my beginnings, to the imagery and cultural milieu of the post-war period through the early 1960s," says Boughton. "Using vintage magazines and materials, I scan and compose digital collages. My intention is to blend the nostalgia for the past with the darkness beneath 'the pleasures of modern living.'"
Boughton says her work also "explores the portrayal of women and domestic culture; the illusion of security; food as an object of desire and comfort; and the power of materiality. I am piecing together fragments of memory into new narratives. Color often acts as an organizing principle."
"The Pleasures of Modern Living skillfully pokes fun at how the media creates truth from fiction," says Paula Tognarelli executive director of the Griffin Museum of Photography. "With digital scissors in hand, Boughton reconstructs scenes from a time when the modern woman was depicted as party hostess and house wife even while doing the laundry."
Boughton, of Medford, MA, studied photography at the Essex Photography Center in Essex. MA; the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY; and the Lesley University Seminars in Cambridge, MA. She also has a master's degree in expressive therapy from Lesley University and is a writer, poet, teacher, and creativity coach.
About the Griffin Museum
The Griffin Museum of Photography was founded in 1992 to provide a forum for the exhibition of both historic and contemporary photography. The Museum houses three galleries dedicated solely to the exploration of photographic arts: the Main Gallery, which features rotating exhibits from some of the world's leading photographers; the Atelier Gallery dedicated to showcasing the works of prominent, up-and-coming artists; and the Griffin Gallery, home to the extensive archives of Museum founder and world-renowned photojournalist Arthur Griffin. For more on the Griffin Museum of Photography, visit www.griffinmuseum.org.