Categories
Figurative
Ceramic figurines have historically reflected the culture in which they were created, depicting that era’s core values and idiosyncratic ideals. The rich history of figurative work seems evidence of its continued relevance in reflecting changing cultural values. In contemporary times, figuration parallels shifts in our developing understanding of human psychology, biology and sociology. In my work, I draw from both the formal, folk and pop history of figurative representation. I am interested in using the figure/ figurine as a cultural object which reflects my own observations about humans and nature in the modern era.
I am interested in what lies on the periphery of consciousness. Both doll and animal imagery are metaphorically aligned with the human subconscious: both being symbols of what is untamed, instinctual, pre-verbal, corporeal and irrational within each one of us. Dolls have always interested me because they all seem to possess an inner life. A doll is both feared and loved because it exhibits residue of experiences it has had that are “not of this world”, but rather of psychological terrain. Dolls exist between worlds. Their “ambiguous presence” can haunt both adult and child alike.
In our era of technology and science and city living, I find the tension between instinct and ration funny and sad and inspiring. It seems that the portion of being human that remains troubling and poorly integrated is our “animalness” or instincts. Through deliberately shifting relationships between human and animal qualities in my work, I hope to suggest empathy for our baser states.
An in-between quality, a certain ambiguity has long been an element in my work: between consciousness and the subconscious, between human and animal, between ration and intuition. “In-between” lies terrain that is not of opposition, but continuity between states of being.
