| Artist Statement |
|
My work investigates how cultural, social, political, historical and gender influences obscure our perceptions and dictate our relationship with objects and images. The Victorian time period is a launching point for my interest in flux and change related to taste and décor. The origin of my research begins at the cameo; imagery of the idealized, framed woman. While the cameo is often sacralized in the way it is contained or presented, I have combined the cameo with the death/power/desire imagery of disembodied animal carcasses and massive waves of churning hair. The result of this concomitance, translating both images into new materials, and returning them to the decorative context of the Victorian domestic interior has transformed my relationship to this romanticized imagery. I see parallels between the way a society adorns its domestic interiors and the way its inhabitants adorn their bodies. It is also impossible to ignore the ideas of “the feminine” that are inherent in the study of hair and the Victorians’ obsession with it. I look to create an inflation of the romanticized. I often think of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus while I am melting wax together to create the illusion of huge swells of hair, and I see many connections between Venus’ sea birth and the romanticism of her hair. I find in the Victorian era and its contemporary remnants a rich, deep and romantic aesthetic; full of tension, and ripe for investigation. My intent is to re-examine our perception of imagery and how this relationship affects the production and reception of objects. |