Elevator Music 40:</br>Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid

Installation view, Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid, Tang Teaching Museum, 2020

Melissa Thorne, Landslide/Solid, 2010, two-sided vinyl record and sleeve (front and back views), image courtesy of the artist

Melissa Thorne, sound curtains, 2010, screenprint on hand-dyed linen, image courtesy of the artist

Installation view, Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid, Tang Teaching Museum, 2020

Melissa Thorne, installation view of Rockslide Rocksolid, Optical Project, Houston Texas, 2010, image courtesy of the artist

Landslide/Solid combines interior design, hard-edge abstraction, and narrative pop to create a unique listening environment in the Tang Teaching Museum’s elevator. Drawing from the artist’s background in pattern painting and playing in bands, the exhibition features hand-printed sound curtains and a limited-edition 12-inch record, with audio performances by Thorne, Patrick-Ian Polk, and Jessica Catron in collaboration with musician/producer Julian Wass and artist and master printer Margaret White Lomeli. The title refers simultaneously to the visual motifs presented—inspired by those Thorne encountered while living in Los Angeles—and to the lyrics of cover songs.

Melissa Thorne lives and works in upstate New York. Over the past ten years, her interest in architecture and geographic place has led to the creation of site-specific works in diverse venues, including galleries and museums, artist-run storefronts, public spaces, and abandoned cabins. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Devin Borden Gallery, Houston; Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne; Galerie Anke Schmidt, Cologne; and Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, among others. Thorne earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.

Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid is organized by Dayton Director Ian Berry in collaboration with the artist and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.

Landslide/Solid Audio

Listen to the sounds of Melissa Thorne’s installation Landslide/Solid. Thorne’s covers of Stevie Nick’s classic hit Landslide and Ashford & Simpson’s Solid were made into a limited-edition record that plays on loop on a turntable in the Tang Teaching Museum’s elevator. Visitors can manually flip the record to listen to the tracks on each side. The record and sleeves are printed with rock wall motifs that echo Thorne’s printed curtains.