An installation of drawings and ephemera
by Dawn Cerny and Alice Tippit

The Artful Scheme of Happiness

July 6 – July 30, 2006

Dawn Cerny and Alice Tippit conceived the Artful Scheme of Happiness as a collaborative installation project in the fall of 2004. Comprised largely of works on paper, the artists use the obsessions, interests and amusements of a fictitious eccentric millionaire to explore man’s pursuit of happiness. In creating this character, the artists hope to evoke the life of an individual who, due to his great wealth, is unfettered by social obligations and conventions—a man whose happiness seems virtually guaranteed. Pivoting from funny to perverse to overwhelmingly pathetic, the installation serves as a deductive investigation of one man's futile grasp for immortality. 

This project was made possible, in part, by the generous assistance of Artist Trust.