michael rosenthal gallery

Reception: November 7th, 4pm – 9pm

Michael Rosenthal is pleased to present Lapidary Terrarium, Mary Conrad’s San Francisco debut exhibition of installation works, paintings, and drawings. In this show, Conrad explores the concept of Lapidary Terrarium as the specialized and expertly crafted social and environmental s...paces in which we enclose ourselves. Acting as an anthropologist, Conrad mediates a banal and strange world to examine the historical and social impacts on our shared consciousness of language, signs, currency and packaging. Sharing the same title as the exhibition, the large installation in the center of the gallery looms gallantly over and illuminates everyday objects and materials to suggest that there are other uses and meanings behind the mundane. Conrad takes a truly interdisciplinary approach to her art making that mirrors her academic background in literature and architecture, yielding results of poetic prowess.

Mary Conrad received her Bachelors of Arts, cum laude in English Literature from Cornell University and a Masters of Architecture from Columbia University after attending the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University. Conrad recently installed the sculpture Tell Your Stories Here in the Tenderloin National Forest – Luggage Store Annex, created in 2006 while in residence at the Luggage Store Annex. Born in the United States, Conrad lived abroad for many years in France and Indonesia as well as in Sri Lanka while in grade school.Read More