Galerie Michael Janssen in Berlin

Galerie Michael Janssen presents a new floor installation by artist Meg Cranston.
The work titled Rock Bottom is a giant paper collage that covers the entire gallery floor.

Like the ancient floors of the Romans or in Pompei, Cranston uses the floor as a place to commemorate history — in this case the recent history of the music industry. The floor includes 750 photographs of musical groups currently being promoted by the five major record companies.

Cranston states, “I like floors as a place to present information. Like in other works I�ve done, I present a quantity that allows you to make a judgement. In Rock Bottom everybody is treated the same. David Bowie and the death metal band, Cradle of Flith, are side by side. It is an equal opportunity history.”

Rock Bottom is her first solo-exhibition at Gallery Michael Janssen.

Kurzbiographie / short biography

Meg Cranston is born 1960 in Baldwin, New York. Until 1986 she studied at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. 1994 she was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship. Since 1987 she is teaching at the Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles.

Her work has been shown in numerous international museum shows including:
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (1993), Helter Skelter, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1992), Kontext Kunst, Kunstlerhaus / Neue Galerie am Landsmuseum Joanneum, Graz (1993), Deep Storage - Arsenal der Erinnerung, Kunstmuseum Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf / P.S.1, New York / Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (1998).

Most recently the artist has shown in New York at Leo Koenig Inc. and in Los Angeles at the Happy Lion Gallery. In 1997, Cranston started her first Performance with God Love the Tragic Artist: Meg Cranston on the Life of Marvin Gaye at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and Performa 97, Berlin. In 2005 she performed Sunset at the Getty Center for Arts & Humanities, Los Angeles. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.