Shana Moulton's Whispering Pines: Cosmic and Cosmetic

Shana Moulton, born 1976 in California, lives and works in New York and California. After studying anthropology at UC Berkeley, she turned to art, focusing on performance and video. Her main work is the ten-episode series Whispering Pines (2002-2010), featuring her alter ego Cynthia. Cynthia inhabits a kitsch interior with fitness and beauty products, confronting absurd situations in a burlesque yet melancholic manner. Moulton's videos employ archaic special effects reminiscent of Méliès, blending kitsch, esotericism, critical study, and soap opera. Her work references Tony Oursler, Pipilotti Rist, and Michael Smith. Recent solo exhibitions include Puzzle Saga at Gimpel Fils, London (2010), Whispering Pines 6,7,8 at The Box and Wexner Center for the Arts, Cleveland, and Whispering Pines 4 at David Castillo Gallery, Miami. Group exhibitions include Witty, lo-fi Works with knotty thoughts at Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (2010) and The Arbitrariness of Signs at Momenta Art, Brooklyn.