Sara Mejia Kriendler's 'Duplicates, Dummies & Dolls' exhibition explores waste, religion, and commodity culture

Sara Mejia Kriendler presented 'Duplicates, Dummies & Dolls' at CP Projects Space from February 18 to March 3, 2016, located at 132 West 21st Street, 10th floor in New York. Curated by Becky Nahom, the exhibition featured textured casts, molds, and repurposed materials in an all-white installation. Key works included 'Mother of Pearl' (2015), a Hydrocal slab with plaster striations incorporating found elements and a small angel figurine; 'Defense Mechanism' (2010), a five-foot wall composed of 330 plaster-cast Mardi gras masks; '2014' (2015), a Styrofoam tray with a Venus-like figure made from doll packaging; and 'Plasticulture' (2016), an L-shaped floor installation with domed humps covered in plastic bags and palm leaves. The show addressed themes of waste, commodity culture as religion, and environmental harm, using materials like plaster, Styrofoam, and plastic to critique consumption and recycling. CP Projects Space serves as an experimental venue for School of Visual Arts' Curatorial Practice students, with Kriendler being an MFA alumna. The works explored visual complexity through white expanses, anthropomorphic forms, and references to Neoclassical sculpture while questioning contemporary secular art's ritualistic dimensions.