Through a partnership between MadArt and the Seattle Art Fair, Julie Alpert worked at MadArt Studio to create her site-specific installation, Backdrop. This artwork was part of the Seattle Art Fair’s off-site installation program, Experiments: Pure Research.

Using improvisation and cues from set design, textiles, and patterns in nature, Alpert’s work explores avoidance, nostalgia, and how we divide and decorate our domestic spaces. With the help of volunteers, Alpert created a multi-part installation that responded to the skylights and other architectural features of MadArt Studio.

Alpert used wood, paint, vinyl, paper, tape, cardboard, and found objects to create brightly colored, suspended, floor-bound, and free-standing structures. These materials acted as instruments to cover or reveal small moments of mystery, humor, and illusion. This project was a continuation of Splat!, Alpert’s prior solo show and residency at Clark College that contemplated the difference between a real drip and the representation of one.