The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The work of Zoë Sheehan Saldaña tends to hide in plain sight. Even her most elaborate undertakings, such as a reverse-engineered “Strike Anywhere” match or a hand-woven terrycloth towel, masquerade as objects you might toss away thoughtlessly, or stick in a drawer and forget. Underneath these acts of artistic camouflage lies a deep well of conviction, a drive to take full responsibility for things. For her exhibition at The Aldrich - the artist’s largest to date - Sheehan has refused the usual support that a museum offers. She will personally oversee every aspect of the project, down to making paint by hand and applying it to the gallery walls. Deceptively neutral in appearance, the space will be populated by about fifty of her beguiling handmade artifacts. The exhibition is an extended meditation on self-reliance: the instinct to escape the anxious, sometimes hysterical tenor of contemporary life. It will be accompanied by a publication with an essay by the exhibition’s curator, Glenn Adamson.