ELANA HERZOG
THE PALACE AT 9AM
(Manhattan, New York, USA)
The Palace at 9AM is a subtle intervention into the landscape of my daily life under lockdown. The reflective holographic tape delineates an abstract shape on the bars of my fire escape, draw-ing attention to what is already there, and "dematerializing" it at the same time. The title of the work pays homage to the iconic 1932 surrealist sculpture by Alberto Giacometti “The Palace at 4AM,” which he described as being like a “fragile palace of matches.” During these months of quarantine, I have been working at home. My physical surroundings have not changed very much, but my perception of them has. The ordinary and the obvious have become visible in new ways. This has been an amazing time for reflection. The Palace at 9AM can be seen from the street be-low, and is especially bright in the morning when the sun hits it from the east. Its appearance changes with the light and the weather; sometimes it is almost invisible.
Elana Herzog is a mixed media artist who makes large scale installations as well as intimately scaled works. She has exhibited widely, both in the US and internationally. Herzog has received numerous awards and residencies, notably a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship; Anonymous Was A Woman Award; Louis Comfort Tiffany Award; the Joan Mitchell Award, and the Back Apartment Residency; The Joan Mitchell Center Residency, MacDowell Colony; Yaddo; Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. Herzog lives and works in New York City. She holds a BA from Bennington College and an MFA from Alfred University.