MILLIE LAKE
Millie Lake is a contemporary artist focusing on what would usually be considered as the everyday. Through installations and 3D work, Millie explores how our preconceptions of the context of ‘the ordinary’ can be altered and tested. Using objects she has bought, found and made, she investigates what happens when everyday objects are used within an art context and how this may change the viewer’s perception of not only the work but also the objects themselves. It is this displacement of domesticity that transports the viewer to a place outside of the gallery.
By repeatedly using objects one would encounter on a daily basis in a way that may seem strange, the objects become props. The use of everyday objects within the art is vital in enabling Millie to challenge and play with the language of such objects. Each item is carefully selected to create the desired narrative that subtly exists within each installation. An example of this is in Pink Chair in which all-pink objects are assembled to create an overwhelmingly kitsch interior. The use of only pink deliberately encourages the audience to think about the semiotics of the colour which typically signifies femininity and romance. However, the clean cut, show room style appearance makes the room seem fake, presenting a more consumerist idea of romance.
Building installations similar to sets, Millie recreates domestic rooms. These artificial rooms at first appear as if they belong inside someone’s home but despite the collection of domestic objects within something isn’t quite right. This can be seen in Cabinet in which ornaments sit alongside plaster casts of fingers inside a wooden cabinet. Placing the plaster fingers next to the household ornaments gives the impression that they too exist as ornaments, but under closer inspection the viewer may question this strange pairing and subject matter.
Concerning herself with the uncanny, what Freud described as the feeling when something is familiar yet alien at the same time, Millie aims to evoke this sense of intrigue, fascination and uncomfortable-ness in the viewers of her work. It is the set-like quality of the rooms which makes them uncanny. The staged, isolated elements within don’t make a convincing whole room which is important in reminding the viewer that these are only a stand in for the real thing.