I Dreamt I was a Jig-Saw, and I’m Thrilled to Pieces | Kate Hubbell

Katie Hubbel (Philadelphia, PA)
two videos looped on kindle monitors, headphones, frames, fabric, magazine images, collection print, cardboard, wood, staples, hook, wire

Hubbell’s research at Elsewhere was centered on the Magazine collection. Through analyzing the advertisements, recipes, and articles in ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ magazines from the late 50’s and early 60’s, Hubbell has created a layered text which winds in and out of logic. The at times humorous, yet equally troubling script call attention to the incongruences, absurdities and problematic messages regarding bodies, gender, cultural standards and lack of diversity within our history. Hubbell has seamlessly interlaced slogans from contemporary advertisement, acknowledging that many of these messages and issues are still commonplace.

Using molds from the kitchen collection, and drawing from the prevalent Jell-O centered recipes, Hubbell has created gelatin sculptures. Embedded within these transparent sculptures are beads, jewelry, dice, zippers, flowers and other small trinkets from the collection. In a video, Hubbell slowly picks apart this colorful and aestheticized mass, much as she mushes and dissects the complex text of “to-do’s” and “shoulds”. Throughout the duration, the video becomes soothing and hypnotic much like ASMR, yet the slushy mess of words and materials becomes equally vile.

Hubbell adds another layer to the work, by embedding the video within objects from the collection. In one frame, two video circles peek beneath holes deducted from a decorative print of flowers, while within a second frame, a monitor is imbedded into what reminds us of a cork pinboard, collaged with recipes, adverts, and notes. Placed within the calming space of the ‘Velvet Retreat’ bathroom the experience of watching Hubbell’s work becomes personal and one of introspection.

Katie Hubbell’s multimedia practice operates within the formal slippages of installation, sculpture, performance, and video. She examines mass-media aesthetization, highlighting the tensions and comforts embedded within sensuous images. Using objects from everyday life, Hubbell’s practice reveals the flirtations and repulsions, states of boredom and states of obsession, parallels and contradictions which inhabit twenty-first century advertisement culture and self-help models of care.

Katie received an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. She currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.