It’s interesting to see the American Dream set up like a 22-foot tall dollhouse, but that is what Zachary Armstrong’s Encaustic House resembles. Because a home kinda is 22-foot tall, has a certain amount of rooms and is full of secrets and personal ephemera that often go unnoticed and unspoken. On view now at Weston Art Gallery, the work is a dense display of the artist’s personal memories, but also a collective understanding of what it is to have a home in the vein of the American suburbs, and the security, or false sense of security, it gives. The gallery notes that “the walls, ceilings, and floors of this full-sized house are made of large encaustic paintings bolted together,” but what it really seems to be is a diorama of America’s hopes and dreams. We thought what we were building was made to last, but what holds it together is the idea that memories of time past was the glue that binds us together. It’s a fascinating exploration from the artist.
Published on
