Beauty
by Brandon Allen
Beauty is in the basement of the beholder
Deep within the depths of a basement a world that has been sheltered and forgotten unveiled itself in the heart of a run down Toronto apartment. A former history has been locked away to rot and gain dust in a prison of lost memories of dreams that arose as quickly as they were destroyed. I came upon a beauty salon that had been thrown away by its prior owners and a fascination that would not allow me to leave its presence.
As I ventured into this world I found it harder to come back. I would shift and sort through old photographs reading once used post-it notes of tasks that were never completed. It seemed that as abruptly as these objects had been stored away, the beauty salon that once existed above me had seen its demise. In all this a quote by Albert Camus ran through my head, repeating 'Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.' In this quote I understood why trapped beneath two feet of flooring I had found what would become Beauty is in the Basement of the Beholder and found the urge to recreate the beauty salon that I had created in my head.
With Beauty is in the Basement of the Beholder I have dared to recreate the history of the objects found in the way I envisioned them, using only the material and walls found within this place. Once starting the project, a world of lost memories was presented to me as I placed wall ornaments and beauty utensils together to create what would become the last impression these items would make on their environment. This series presents a journey into the mind's ability to piece together puzzles of misplaced items and how one's mind will pervert and alter reality to create answers to conundrums that never intended to be resolved.
