Eye of the Beholder

New York performance artist Annie Murdock is the daughter of Robert Murdock, the former curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art, and since graduating from Wesleyan University she's been studying in New York and Oaxaca and working with paper sculpture artist Lesley Dill. So you could say...

By Shannon Sutlief

November 6, 2003

Audio By Carbonatix

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New York performance artist Annie Murdock is the daughter of Robert Murdock, the former curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art, and since graduating from Wesleyan University she's been studying in New York and Oaxaca and working with paper sculpture artist Lesley Dill. So you could say art fits her like a glove. Or rather, lots and lots of latex gloves as these sterile, stretchy instruments are the main elements in one of her works. They are the many folds in her long-sleeved, floor-length ball gown and the hand-shaped crown and frilly layers of her lighted hat. She wears them as gloves, too, then accessorizes with huge costume jewelry and runway-style makeup.

Making clothes from nontraditional materials and then performing them as moving sculptures is Murdock's artistic focus. Scarlett O'Hara and Maria von Trapp have nothing on her with their curtains-as-fabric clothes-making skills. Murdock has also used rope to make dresses connecting two people who test their limits of mobility from each other until they battle in a full-on tug-of-war for freedom. Her latest undertaking, Intention, is another fashion-as-sculpture project that will "explore the dynamics of freedom and choice." It also includes installation aspects and sound. She'll perform it Friday at The Casket Factory in South Dallas as part of an artist-in-residence project that's a collaboration between the University of Texas at Dallas and SouthSide on Lamar lofts and gallery. She'll also be one of the artists contributing to the Dallas Center for Contemporary Art's Piece Work exhibit in January. Apparently, Texas fits her like a glove, too.

Shannon Sutlief

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