642 E. Market Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 303-7259
www.garnernarrative.com
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm
First Friday Gallery Hops 1 pm – 9 pm
Inner Landscapes
Featuring Stephen Dorsett
Website: stephendorsett.com
Instagram: @dorsett_art
Dates: September 8 – October 8, 2023
Events: Reception: September 10 1pm-3pm with Artist Talk at 2pm
Inner Landscapes includes miniature dioramas of natural environments crafted from consumer waste, and photographs of these constructed landscapes. My process is uncovering the beautyand value in the discarded debris of trash cans, while simultaneously delving into my own mind o discover joy and other positive emotions. Sometimes I cope with feelings of emptiness andunmet emotional needs by accumulating unnecessary items. The dioramas incorporate the physical waste and emotional remnants of this consumption cycle. Lighting and photographingthe dioramas allows me to experience the sense of wholeness, satisfaction, and tranquility that comes from time spent in mountains, forests, caves, and other natural settings. Through thetransformation of discarded materials into art pieces, I practice resilience and celebrate my innate ability to discover solace and growth within my own anxious mind. I hope my work encourages viewers to reassess their own consumption patterns and find happiness in the depths of their own inner landscapes.
I collect post-consumer waste from garbage cans. I smash, boil, burn, and pulverize the materials into sculptural media, shape it into dioramas, and paint them. I compose miniature lands capesusing these dioramas, while looking through a camera lens. My lighting setup is low-fi, with desk lamps for light and colored binder dividers to alter the light’s color