Three sculptures at Important Structures Upheld, solo show at Essex Flowers, New York, NY. Oct 8 - Nov 6, 2021.
Curated by Camilla Padgitt-Coles.
This body of work, Important Structures Upheld, is a humorous meditation on power structures that are often deemed immutable and maintained at great costs. I invite viewers to think about labor inequities, scarcity, worker precarity, and isolation felt acutely today.
The quintessential socks and latex gloves, filled with sand and cement, serve as stand-ins for full bodies, for groups of people carrying, lifting, propping, and working together toward some end. These stuffed feet and hands "at work" evoke the dark humor of seeing vulnerable and soft beings propping up or intending to walk up structures that are either too heavy, unstable, or heartbreakingly perilous.
The work may serve, in part, as a modern-day, abstracted allegory of our foolhardy "achievements," our gullibility, and tragic tendency to misplace our efforts. And, on the other hand, our uplifting ability to work together to survive and to find joy in cooperation, in contact, even while oppressed, neglected, or massively bamboozled.
Thank you to Camilla Padgitt-Coles and the crew at Essex Flowers.
Intersection of Coffee Table and Labor
2020. 1 x 3 ft. US 8 / EU 38.5.
Intersection of Coffee Table and Labor. 2020. 1 x 3 ft. US 8 / EU 38.5. Found glass, wire, plaster, cotton.
The three works exhibited in the gallery room of Essex Flowers.
Important Structures Upheld (show namesake)
2018. Fruits, rocks, metal. 4 x 3 x 1 ft.
Important Structures Upheld (show namesake) was part of the solo show at Essex Flowers, New York, NY. Oct 8 - Nov 6, 2021.
More of this series can be found here (banana holders etc)
Towel Stairs (Don’t say I never made a towel stairs)
2019. Towel, fabric sculpting medium, cement. 1 x 2 x 1/2 ft.
Towel Stairs was part of the solo show at Essex Flowers, New York, NY. Oct 8 - Nov 6, 2021.
Slide two of this post is me talking about why I made the towel stairs very late in the evening. An artist statement of sorts!
Documentation of the work bench.
Thank you to Camilla Padgitt-Coles and the screw at Essex Flowers!