Biography

Cornelia Parker is known for large-scale, often site-specific installations that ruminate on themes of destruction, transformation, consumerism, and the fragility of existence. The artist often uses everyday objects and violent techniques in her work, and she displays many of her pieces by suspending them from gallery ceilings. For Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View (1991)—possibly her most famous work—Parker had the British army blow up a garden shed, then hung the remaining fragments from the ceiling and dramatically illuminated them from within. For Thirty Pieces of Silver (1988–89), she had silver tea sets and other objects flattened with a steamroller, then hung them from the ceiling as well. Parker has exhibited in London, Paris, Madrid, New York, and beyond. Her work belongs in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the de Young Museum, the Tate, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. Parker has also produced photography, works on paper, sculptures, and jewelry.