SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY.- The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College presents Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid, on view from Dec. 21 through April 26, 2020. The exhibition marks the Tang’s 40th audio-based installation in the museum’s elevator.

Landslide/Solid combines interior design, hard-edge abstraction, and narrative pop to create a unique listening environment. Drawing from the artist’s background in pattern painting and playing in bands, the exhibition features hand-printed sound curtains and a limited-edition 12-inch record, with audio performances by Thorne, Patrick-Ian Polk, and Jessica Catron in collaboration with musician/producer Julian Wass and artist and master printer Margaret White Lomeli. The title refers simultaneously to the visual motifs presented—inspired by those Thorne encountered while living in Los Angeles—and to the lyrics of cover songs.

A public reception in recognition of Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid will be 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, which will also celebrate the concurrent exhibitions Between the Mountains, Mary Weatherford: Canyon–Daisy–Eden, and Nicole Cherubini: Shaking the Trees.

Elevator Music 40: Melissa Thorne — Landslide/Solid is organized by Dayton Director Ian Berry in collaboration with the artist and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.

Melissa Thorne lives and works in upstate New York. Over the past ten years, her interest in architecture and geographic place has led to the creation of site-specific works in diverse venues, including galleries and museums, artist-run storefronts, public spaces, and abandoned cabins. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Devin Borden Gallery, Houston; Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne; Galerie Anke Schmidt, Cologne; and Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, among others. Thorne earned her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.