This neckpiece is called Rubies and Pearls for Louise Bourgeois. It is currently showing in an exhibition called explorations at gaffa Gallery http://gaffa.com.au/ This is an annual exhibition put on by the wonderful folks at A&E Metal Merchants.It is a follow on from the earlier neckpiece and again uses NYC Pink casting wax, this time I have used three strands of the thread for strength and added rubies and pearls to the wax. It is much longer and heavier than the first wax neckpiece.
Making it was a labour of love - I spent HOURS obsessed with getting the drips of wax just so. The colour of the wax and the way I was using it made me think more and more of Louise Bourgeois' sculpture as I was making the piece - I always associate her with shades of
icky pink and bulbousness (amongst other things of a more intellectual nature!).I was inspired by pictures I saw this week of the inside of my stomach taken during recent keyhole surgery - confronting but beautiful at the same time. I added the rubies and pearls to the piece at about the same time as I started thinking about the connection between Bourgeois' often confronting and visceral, yet strangely beautiful sculpture and the experience of seeing my own interior landscape in all its vivid pinks and reds and whites.
Why add real pearls and rubies to the wax and thread? A recurring theme in my work is the questioning of what we value (and why) - for instance, I know that when there is hardly any pink thread left it will feel like the most precious material I have. Adding valuable materials to the work acknowledges this... and it looks beautiful
1 comment:
I love that this looks like a fish's egg peeking out, waiting to hatch. It was great to see you in Sydney and I love the blog. I'm interested in the concept of sticking with one material until it's run out and I can't wait to see the pom pom piece. It's interesting that the feature material, the thread, kind of takes a back seat to the wax (the wax is HOT, by the way, and what a cool name!). I'd love to see something in which the pink thread is really integral to the work - like the pom pom piece!
Post a Comment