“Inside the Fence”, an exhibition at Redux by artist Lynn Richardson, was an installation that incorporated both sculptural and mechanical forms suggesting a “working” landscape. This work was triggered directly by the viewer’s interactions. Through the use of motion detectors and “smart home” technology the installation began to illuminate and darken signifying the amount of time a viewer stays engaged with the work. Sound, motion, light, the physicality of the assembled pieces aided Richardson’s concept to engage the viewer. If a viewer decided not to interact with the work then no energy from the installation was consumed. The installation was constructed through a variety of materials the majority being plexi-glass, cast plastic, fabric, motors and insteon technology.

Lynn Richardson’s images are built through an exploration of contemporary imagery and architectural representation. In her earlier work the expression of subject matter is strait-forward and bold. Richardson’s recent work is elliptical and the expression of the subject is quieter. She is aware that the conflict between industrial and natural environment needs to enter the process forming her aesthetic. One could think about the heroine of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Red Desert or the famous collection of Donald Judd’s work in Marfa Texas. She feels the urgency to respond to these conflicts from the position of an artist that belongs to a different generation. In this work the critical use of images of consumer icons, logos, and strip-mall architecture has been replaced by the forms resembling architectural American minimalism: reduction and repetition replace uniqueness and diversity.

Richardson’s solo exhibition titled Inter-Glacial Free Trade Agency examined the relationship between governments and corporations through the guise of a trade show. Here she focused specifically on the end products being marketed to the public; fashionable survival gear in the event we are thrust back into an ice age as a result of global warming. All items were branded with the same logo convincing the viewer that in the ‘new world’ there is only one choice.

This project was supported in part by funding from a Keene State College Faculty Development Grant.

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