Meredith James

Marinaro is pleased to present The Exit, a solo exhibition of new work by Meredith James, and her first show with the gallery.

In this body of work James turns her lens toward the architecture of an abandoned office. Through meticulously constructed dioramas and photographs, she examines the aesthetics and emotional echoes left behind in this cubicle workspace, designed for efficiency yet marked by decay.

James' photographs were taken in New York City during the pandemic, when the viability of office space was called into question. In the actual office, James used mirrors to manipulate space in the photographs, creating odd angles and ambiguous repetition. These photographs became the basis for four wall sculptures. In her three-dimensional dioramas, James integrates the intersecting planes of the real spaces and the reflected spaces. Mirrors interrupted the coherence of the photographs, those glitches have become the architecture of the sculptures.

Rendered with uncanny precision, the dioramas evoke both nostalgia and unease. In James’ hands the standardized fixtures of office space—drop ceilings, fluorescent lighting, linoleum, and white walls—become theatrical, forming a stage for absent narratives. The familiar architecture of the office is confused, fragmented like a dream, divorced from time and rendered in disorienting miniature.

The Exit continues James’ ongoing exploration of illusion, perception, and the constructed nature of our surroundings. The workplace depicted in these pieces has become hard to grapple with, in part because there is no clear answer to what comes next, and in part because there is no trace of the work that took place here. Her work invites viewers to reconsider the quiet absurdities of the environments we inhabit and what lingers in their emptiness.

Meredith James completed her AB at Harvard University and her MFA at Yale University. She had a museum exhibition at the Queens Museum, NY and has had solo shows at Jack Hanley Gallery, NY; LaMontange Gallery, Boston; and Marc Jancou, NY. She has installed major public art projects at Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; The Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston; and Lieu Histrorique National Center-Brébeuf, Quebec City.