Looking-Glass House, 1998, Latex on walls, 9 ft. x 132 ft. Threadwaxing Space, New York, NY.

Magazine depictions of historical, traditional American homes were computer-manipulated, blown up, and painted on the walls of the project space. Like images on the surface of a mirror, the rooms in Looking-Glass House may be distorted reflections of actual rooms or glimpses into imaginary rooms.

The images in Looking-Glass House are derived from old magazine depictions of historical, traditional American homes which I have combined, drawn from, manipulated through a computer, and then blown up to room size.

Looking-Glass House is painted with black lines on a silver shape directly onto the surface of the walls of the room. Like images on the surface of a mirror, the rooms in Looking-Glass House can be seen as a distorted reflection of real rooms or as a glimpse into a series imaginary rooms. I also intend for the painting to operate metaphorically as a description of other kinds of interior spaces.

The way in which Looking-Glass House is painted (lack of color, use of a metallic ground, the obvious computer manipulation) creates an agitated coldness that resists the viewer’s desire to enter into the world of the painting. One can observe the rooms in Looking-Glass House, but they can never be entered into. The experience is of surface, never depth. Access is continually denied.

—Cadence Giersbach, January 10, 1998