Informed by conventions of Hollywood film and television commercials, Judith Barry’s Casual Shopper (1980-81) presents a female protagonist wandering through a seemingly endless array of product displays. The woman both follows and is followed by a male figure, who appears to exist somewhere between reality and fantasy, within a carefully structured and intoxicating elevator-music-filled department store. The piece conflates romantic desire with consumer desire, as both figures perpetually search.
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