Montclair State University Galleries Presents Case Studies 4: Hilliary Gabryel - Side Sleeper

Montclair State University Galleries is presenting the exhibition Case Studies 4: Hilliary Gabryel - Side Sleeper from February 8 through April 21, 2024.

Gabryel explores themes of consumer culture, resale markets, the American Dream, and gender. The artist transforms vacuum-formed headboards and vanity mirrors popularized by Franco Cozzo, an Italian-Australian salesman whose bedroom sets were often given female names.

For Gabryel, these furniture pieces hold the promises of something other than themselves, i.e. a piece of plastic masquerading as a handmade marble sculpture. This reflects a crucial part of contemporary American consumer culture where simulation is better than the real thing.