Empire Style

04 - Jean Lowe, Empire Style

Jean Lowe
American, b. 1960

Empire Style
2003
Acrylic on canvas, enamel on canvas, enamel on papier mache, clocks, mirrors
Dimensions variable
Loan from the artist


“The Empire Style installation is based on historic French scenic wallpaper from the early 1800s, specifically a paper called Monuments of Paris. This wallpaper depicts all the great buildings of Paris as though they stood side by side along the River Seine. I'm also quoting Empire Style decoration and furniture from the early 1800s. Here, instead of those, or equally important historic buildings, I've lined up big box stores along a sea of asphalt parking lots: Monuments of America.”