Parasol Project - Art Installation Downtown

The "Parasol Project" is a temporary site specific sculpture installation at the Foley House offering Commentary on Cultural Interpretation of Emotions. Most simply described, the exhibition contrasts contemporary representations of emotion with those of the Victorian Era.

The Colonial Revival house was built by the William L. Foley family, uncle to the Foley Brothers of Foley's Department Store fame. The house facade and window apertures bloom with open umbrella floral configurations derived from black and white Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of the brain-hand colored by the artist.

Both men and women of the Victorian era communicated fluently through a language not merely of words but of symbols, behaviors and discrete movements: For example, slight variations in the way a woman held a parasol could be used to express flirtatiousness or demureness, openness or a desire for privacy; variations in type and color of a flower a man presented to a woman could similarly insinuate emotions.

Fleischhauer uses parasols as her primary tool, but it is decoration that truly makes the Parasol Project ultimately complex and captivating. At first glance, the house façade and window apertures seem to bloom with the parasols; upon closer inspection, however, the rose-like designs reveal themselves to be Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) of the human brain.

The exhibit will be a static exterior display for passersby to enjoy from dawn until midnight. In addition, story boards detailing the project, artist and the Foley family will add another dimension of understanding for visitors. Houston-based musician Brad Sayles, whose accomplishments include awards for both composition and recording engineering, has crafted complementary music and integrated it into the house’s three-dimensional world.

The Parasol Project is a layered psychological, visual and aural reflection of twenty-first century technology collapsed with Victorian emotions and behaviors. The installation is located in downtown Houston at the historical Foley House, across from the George R. Brown Convention Center on Avenida de las Americas between Jackson and Rusk.