Women with their Work III: Materiality, 2018
The overall focus in my work as a sculptor has been to utilize material combinations, such as cast bronze and iron, and the female figure to explore dualities of masculine and feminine, disposable and precious and fragility and strength.
In this latest series of work titled “Press Fit,” the frames capture the mundane, folded spaces of the female figure, casting them in an unfamiliar light. With the acknowledgment of the cultural gaze projected upon women’s bodies, the sculptures are intended to deny that gaze, forcing it into absence by focusing on ordinary body fragments such as a knee, an elbow or the sole of the foot. The ornate frames offer an extravagance with an art historical reference to the “Baroque” style, a period in art where the depiction of the female nude and what was considered “feminine” is drastically different from our current societal standards.
The title “Press Fit” is derived from its technical definition in relation to engineering or mechanics, which is “a fastening between two parts which is achieved by friction after the parts are pushed together rather than by other means of fastening.”
Knee, 2016 Cast iron 17” x 13” x 4” Heel, 2016 Cast iron and bronze 7” x 5” x 2” Arch, 2016 Cast iron and bronze 5” x 3” x 2”
Press Fit #1, 2016 Cast bronze 11” x 7” x 2” Press Fit #2 Cast bronze, plaster, graphite 8” x 8” x 2”