On Oct. 8, visual artist Elana Herzog visited Vassar’s Taylor Hall auditorium to discuss an overview of her work. Herzog was born in Toronto, Canada, and earned her undergraduate degree at Bennington College where she began her work as an installation artist. Her interdisciplinary approach gained traction in the ’90s, establishing herself in the Brooklyn art scene. Now, Herzog’s catalog extends beyond New York, exhibiting in Connecticut and New Jersey, while also forming an international presence in countries such as Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.
Herzog’s early works consisted of the manipulation of household textiles such as curtains and bed sheets, often distorting these fabrics through other materials such as elastic. One of the notable pieces she touched on in her lecture was Untitled I, which features a shower curtain stretched by rubber bands and elastics to create dimension. Herzog discussed that the materials she used in her works, including Untitled I, were often bought at dollar stores or salvaged at yard sales and flea markets. Her early works were often colorful, containing many different textures, infusing her art with a sense of playfulness. In her talk, Herzog acknowledged the absurdity of some of her projects, rejecting what she described as the self-seriousness and humourless tendencies of the art world.
After working with domestic textiles, Herzog transitioned into elaborate installations using carpets and rugs. When making these pieces, Herzog would staple the textiles she created along preexisting patterns and then rip them away, only leaving certain remnants of the original design. Herzog stated that she often liked when these pieces worked in tandem with the environment they were in, making it difficult for the viewer to determine where the wall starts and the fabric ends. Thematically, this era of Herzog played with the idea of disintegration both as a physical and metaphorical concept.
Physically, the work appeared as if it was disintegrating, but it also served as an almost pessimistic viewpoint of where Herzog believed art was headed in the 1970s. She expressed that her abstract style comes as a response to the themes of 1970’s art and her desire to challenge whether art had truly reached its ceiling during the decade. The deterioration of her works can be interpreted as a mirroring of art in the ’70s—slowly withering away, losing its shape and identity. Her “violent” stapling of fabric also represented a sense of permanency in her art, as she was unable to preserve the piece once the exhibit was finished. Herzog explained being comfortable with this conclusion, claiming that removing her work added to the cyclical and routine nature of life, drawing a connection between art and the everyday.
At the end of Herzog’s discussion, she showed images of one of her most notable recent pieces, entitled “Global Floral.” “Global Floral” is an unleashing of all Herzog’s self-proclaimed maximalist tendencies, her most “graphic” work. Herzog experimented with printing different-sized images of a piece she had created to blanket the entirety of a room with this image. She then used different textiles she had collected from around the world, such as Egypt, Russia and Finland, to overlay the existing wallpaper, creating dimension throughout the room. “I really liked her fabric work and the way she talked about her process was really interesting,” said Wyatt Keleshian ’26. “Except, one thing that a lot of people had qualms with was her use of Persian and Middle Eastern motifs while being a white woman and not really discussing where they came from.”
Herzog discussed that throughout her career, she has had the pleasure of traveling to many different countries, often shopping in local markets for textiles, and therefore experiencing the fabric labor force firsthand. The eclectic mix of fabrics gathered from these travels carries the piece’s idea of labor in the global textile industry, as well as ideas of cultural exchange and interconnectedness. She discussed that the vastness of this piece was meant to spark curiosity and sensory pleasure.
Herzog’s lecture not only allowed students to gain a deeper insight into her work, but also offered a Q andA at the end of talk, opening the floor to students with further questions or comments. “I really liked how she told her story in a very personable way,” said Willow Grote ’26. “Like, it just felt like we were talking one-on-one.” The Claflin Lectures, such as Herzog’s discussion earlier this month, are a way for students to become more exposed to different types of art, and have the opportunity to engage with artists firsthand.