Anomalous State of Affairs by Amy Yoes explores Edgar Allan Poe’s idiosyncratic ideas about interior space as introduced in his 1840 essay “The Philosophy of Furniture,” and as articulated his short story “William Wilson.” Following these texts, Yoes constructs a scenario of relationships loosely based Poe’s humorous diatribe about interior design and the idea of an “evil twin.” Highly critical of the American approach to furnishing, Poe speaks out against the arrangement of furniture, curtains, carpet, glare, and glitter. In his fiction the setting shapes the actions, emotions and motivations of the people who inhabit them. For instance, in “William Wilson” the narrator recounts his feelings of paranoia at a school where the overbearing presence of his double is reinforced by the convoluted architecture. Synthesizing these ideas, Yoes creates a hybrid structure of interlocking planes and furniture-like forms that pushes forth in bold contradiction to the room’s classical Georgian architecture. This dense intrusion into the room suggests the psychological dislocation encountered in “William Wilson.”

Amy Yoes has been interested in ornament and architectural space for many years. Her recent projects have become more three dimensional and have involved animation and light. This year her work has been exhibited in L.I.C., NYC, Socrates Sculpture Park; 50,000 Beds, a project by Chris Doyle on view at Artspace, New Haven, CT; the Islip Museum’s Carriage House, Islip, NY; and Michael Steinberg Gallery, New York, NY. She created a wall drawing, Sightseers Folklore, for Wave Hill’s exhibition Out of Bounds in 2005. Her work has been exhibited at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfiled Hills, MI; Hollins University, Roanoke, VA; and The Peppermil Fireside Lounge, Las Vegas, NV. She has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.