Jenny Carpenter
The Looking Glass
2024
I drove down many county roads and highways over the last three or four years. The vastness measured by small vertical markers lining the roads. I became interested in their meaning — often standing tall as a warning of what is to come. I found their shapes and vibrance a welcome contrast to the miles and miles of rolling hills and flat farmland.
In The Looking Glass, the road sign cautions of uncertainty ahead. The convex mirrors pivot, allowing the viewer to see ever changing perspectives of themselves and their world. As the viewer stands interacting with the installation, the mirrors serve as the inflection point in between what has happened before and what is yet to come. It is both a playful piece of warped self-reflection as well as a reminder that what is in the mirror isn’t always as it appears. Reality shifts. What once was does not have to continue to be. The present may prepare you, but the future is yet to be determined.
About the Artist
Jenny Carpenter works with materials that alert people to possible dangers: Reflective tape, pole markers, blind spot mirrors. These roadside items, when seen, snap us back into the moment, a reminder to stay on course. Jenny has participated in exhibitions in a variety of spaces including ArtPort Kingston in Kingston, NY, ArtStream in Kingston, NY, The Catskill Art Society at the Laundry King in Livingston Manor, NY, Foley Gallery and Equity Gallery in New York City’s LES and the Danforth Art Museum outside Boston. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, she graduated from Creighton University with a BA in Studio Art. Jenny lives in Cold Spring, New York with her husband and 13-year-old boys.