Are You Saying Yes to the Dress?
Solo show at Bromfield Gallery, Boston MA
May 1 – June 2, 2019
Opening reception
May 3rd from 6 – 8:30
“Are You Saying Yes to the Dress?” SERIES
ARTIST STATEMENT
In nightly TV surfing after a long day in the studio, I often come across amusing, strange and appalling shows that spur creativity for the next series of small sculptural objects.
Some shows like Say Yes to the Dress, a reality show profiling brides and their family searching for the perfect dress, exhibit all the drama of unrealistic expectations. A final question to the bride is always “Are you saying yes to the dress?”
Some shows like Botched follow two doctors as they remedy plastic surgeries gone wrong or dissuade others from adding to their already warped sense of beauty.
Others shows like Project Runway focus on fashion design and the competition between contestants who, when not eliminated, are told “You’re safe. You may leave the runway.”
I love these shows and can’t wait to get back to the studio to see how my brain will process all the drama and weirdness of these worlds.
In the studio I transform materials that already have their own history: a muscleman toy missing an arm, a mesh bag that once held onions, the silicone insides of a computer, a doll with no hair.
I add to these objects: thread, tulle, yarn, quilting pins, spray paint, acrylic paint, Styrofoam.
I ask myself: Does Batman perhaps need a wedding dress? Can Styrofoam become a beautiful breast yet still partake of the underlying trauma from plastic surgery? Does this ordinary old plastic toy want to strut down the runway? Does Barbie need a different wedding dress because she is sick of being Barbie?
This exhibition is a series of small sculptural objects, many figurative, inspired by the themes found in these TV reality shows.