Tiffany Adler

Statement

Tiffany Adler is an American artist practicing in Los Angeles, CA. Adler graduated with a Masters in Architecture in 2017. After graduating, she worked as a performing artist and model maker at Mike Kelley’s Kandors exhibit for 8 months at Hauser and Wirth, interpreting and constructing futuristic skyscrapers from Kelley’s imagined cities within the Superman comic book series. Adler practiced at several architecture firms thereafter, until deciding to leave the profession completely at the beginning of 2023, in pursuit of advancing her career as an artist.

Adler’s architectural background and interest in materiality informs her calibrated processes upon which her sculptures and contemporary narratives are derived from. Her interests lie both in the process of sculpture, as well as the conceptualization, fabrication, and construction of a scene, in service of communicating alternative narratives within classical frameworks of representation and architectural forms. In a woven effort, she seeks to interrogate and examine ever-evolving cultural ideas about feminism, gender dynamics, and human connection.

Her experience as a woman, in general, and in a profession that is still predominantly male led, informs her work symbolically through material manipulation, misbehaving formations of the body, and satirical narratives within the medium of film and photography. She often uses her own body as part of the narrative, and as a vehicle for communicating such ideas – a process by which is famously demonstrated in other female artists’ works, such as Cindy Sherman & Nadia Lee Cohen, to name just a few.

Her sculpture works also pivot off of classical and or architectural materials, often using plaster as the skin of the body, but foam at the core. A concept that is practically, functionally, and metaphorically suited to her artistic practice.

At this point in her career, she would like to use this focussed time at GlogauAIR to develop her own skill sets within the medium of photography and other, perhaps, post production, and other analogue processes, while still integrating her previous skill set, in hopes of finding a more integrated and holistic practice.

GlogauAIR Project

What if Vitruvius was a Woman?

If we intuit that patriarchy starts at the foundation of the built environment, then Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Vitruvian Man may be worth reimagining. Literally drawn from the ancient figure, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, best known for his ten volume work, De Architectura, a Roman writer and engineer, he set the foundation for future architectures with the leading principles being that of firmitas, utilitas, and venustas, in english, translating to solidity, usefulness, and beauty. His classical ideas have influenced young architects, myself included, at the foundation of architectural education.

I’d like to explore replacing Vitruvius’s original principles, juxtaposing them with possible new terms, and entertaining the idea of what might be if Vitruvian was a woman. With that in mind, I will be using Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, which represents the “perfect man”, based on the ancient knowledge of ratios and proportions present in human anatomy, as the point of departure. Da Vinci’s drawing depicts two superimposed positions of a man fitting within a square and a circle – a formal language that rules much of the built environment we exist and function in today.

By exchanging Vitruvius’s terms for new ones, I want to challenge his ideas about, perhaps most importantly, “beauty”, alongside his ideas about “usefulness” and “solidity”. Keeping the Vitruvian Man in mind, the focus of my exploration will therefore be that of juxtaposing an alternative and abstract representation through symbols, form, the body, and movement.

The re-envisioning of a well known representation here is a continuation of my earlier works, as seen in Fuck Your Pedestal, where the goal is to portray a feminine narrative in place of a well known male one. This process of juxtaposition therefore acts as research and experimentation, allowing for new perspectives to take the stage.

I look forward to seeing what inspiration Berlin has to offer me in my pursuit of the Vitruvian Woman project, as well as developing as an artist alongside the GlogauAIR community.

Performance, Photography, and Sculpture

CV Summary

Education

• 2014-2018 SCI-Arc, Los Angeles — Masters of Architecture
• 2011-2014 James Madison University, Harrisonburg — Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minor in Architectural Design

Exhibitions

• 2023 Motherboard. Kim Sing Theatre, Los Angeles — Artist in Solo Exhibition
• 2022 Watch me. Wonzimer, Los Angeles — Artist in Group Exhibition
• Holy crap. Modest Common, Los Angeles — Artist in Group Exhibition

Projects and Workshops

• 2017-18 Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles — Model Maker & Performing Artist
• 2014 B.A.S.E. Beijing, Caochangdi — Workshop Participant

Residencies

• 2023 Atlas, Lisbon — 1 month residency

Awards and festivals

• 2023 Chinatown Film Festival, Los Angeles
• Les Femmes Underground Film Festival, Los Angeles
• Paris Awards Film Festival, Paris
• Los Angeles Super Shorts Film Festival, Los Angeles

Gallery