Washing Away of Wrongs

2014

Anicka Yi

(American, b. 1971)

2 stainless steel dryer doors, Plexiglas, diffuser, 2 fragrances designed by Christophe Laudamiel - Traennen and Bullfrog

Overall: 304.8 x 332.7 x 67.3 cm (120 x 131 x 26 1/2 in.)

Gift of the Contemporary Art Society 2014.403

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Did You Know?

One door contains a custom scent called “Divorce,” which contains pungent notes that are spicy and animalistic.

Description

Anicka Yi defies expectations with her artworks that poetically engage all the human senses from touch to scent. This work was inspired by the strong emotions that are experienced when a relationship ends. Two industrial dryer doors, as seen in laundromats, each contain a different, original scent that speaks to the experience of loss and separation; accordingly, these scents are less than pleasant. She says, “Two industrial laundry dryer doors transmit scents—one abstract, one representational, two separate systems, both a washing away of wrongs. Take in notes of fried intersections, brooms sweeping up situations, folded cardboard. . . . The other door trickles out a different rhythm of presence through absence—prehistoric wetland, brackish vegetation, yellow throated bullfrog. . . .”