Microcosm
January 24 - March 29 2025
Solo exhibition at The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Buffalo NY USA.

Jenine Marsh: Microcosm is an exhibition of new sculptural works by the Toronto-based artist.

In Microcosm, Jenine Marsh constructs a precarious island where history, value, and utopian longing converge. The exhibition takes its title from an 1808 artist’s manual, Microcosm, which was designed for house-bound bourgeois women to help them imagine and depict the daily lives and labor of the working class. From the protective utopia of the country estate or city mansion, these hobby artists drew and painted images of another utopia: a quasi-real world of fresh air, open spaces, and a purposeful life of work. The image has all the contradictions of imagined utopias: their impossible distance and immanent closeness; an inclusionary heaven constructed from an exclusionary hell; the illusions that drive self-delusion of separation, and vice versa.

Marsh’s Microcosm invites viewers to navigate a world where ideals of paradise and progress fracture under the weight of history. By blending symbols of labor, currency, and utopia, the installation challenges us to consider how value is constructed and who is excluded in the pursuit of perfection. In this drifting, precarious space, Marsh suggests that even in fragmentation, there is the possibility of reimagining what we hold dear—and perhaps, of building something more collective and enduring.




Microcosm (Pyne, Bosch, More, close to shore), 2025
CP Rail trunks, hand-colored decals, cardboard, faux gold foil, mod podge, train-pressed and altered mixed currency coins coins, plastic buckets, water, electric pumps, extension cords, portable power station.

Microcosm (Earthly Delights), 2025
Jigsaw puzzle, mod podge, train-pressed coins, mixed-currency coins, faux gold foil, acrylic.

Arcadia I-V, 2025
Flowers preserved with synthetic rubber and acrylic UV varnish, steel wire, electical wiring, model train power distributor, LED diode, cellophane, floral water tube, pigmented resin, rechargeable 9V battery, electrical tape.

Microcosm, 2025 (installation)
Globe, motor, rope, magnet, spotlight, lighting gels, paper, wallpaper paste, receipts, train-pressed and drilled coins.