Author Description

Alison Nolen's intricate welded architectural installations reconstitute monumental, 20th-century sites of leisure, fantasy and cultural artifice, such as the Crystal Palace, Luna Park, Brighton Pier, and Las Vegas. Sensational and fantastic spaces have always inspired Norlen, from her early theme park sculptures and pinball landscapes, to her series of drawn Floats, with their tangled collisions of rural fairgrounds, roadside attractions, and construction sites. Norlen's more recent engagements on paper feature monolithic structures like the Spanish fortress, Alhambra, or obsolete industrial sites. Futuristic yet nostalgic, Nolan's work contains elements of the industrial and monumental yet manages to be neither robust nor invincible, remaining instead ephemeral and vulnerable. No matter the material or format, the artist explores the effects of time and the persistence of memory within an intricate and layered narrative landscape. Alison Norlen has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the country at, notably, School of Architecture University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University, Harbourfront Centre, and the National Gallery of Canada. 0Exhibition: Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Canada (25.01-10.03.2014).