One of the artists featured in small stories makes some incredibly, weird, lovely, and strange clay works. Nathan Carnes who recently moved to the east coast has his "teethers" included in the show. And I love them - they are both totally repulsive and wonderfully beautiful at the same time.
He states this about his work:
My current work is about the “idea of play” and how that functions in our
contemporary culture. I use the multiple facets of what the concept of play can be
not only to organize and establish parameters with my surroundings, but also as a
means to introduce questions of how others create their own public and private
environments, as well as exist within these environments. It is through the denial of
“actual” play that a desire to understand the potential of how this work may be
played with perpetuates.
...Slip casting, being my primary process, allows me to
create and work with clay in a manner that addresses how I use the multiple.
Through using the multiple in my work, I discuss the role of collection as play
and how one might organize the objects within this collection.
It is my goal for the audience to question what type of objects they might collect and
play with, as well as within what contexts these kinds of activities are acceptable.
Through using varying modes of display, the idea of play becomes accessible within
the work. Using color as a “hook”, and objects that allude to or reference “toy” and
“pillow”, I feel that play becomes the catalyst for understanding the function of play
in our own lives.
contemporary culture. I use the multiple facets of what the concept of play can be
not only to organize and establish parameters with my surroundings, but also as a
means to introduce questions of how others create their own public and private
environments, as well as exist within these environments. It is through the denial of
“actual” play that a desire to understand the potential of how this work may be
played with perpetuates.
...Slip casting, being my primary process, allows me to
create and work with clay in a manner that addresses how I use the multiple.
Through using the multiple in my work, I discuss the role of collection as play
and how one might organize the objects within this collection.
It is my goal for the audience to question what type of objects they might collect and
play with, as well as within what contexts these kinds of activities are acceptable.
Through using varying modes of display, the idea of play becomes accessible within
the work. Using color as a “hook”, and objects that allude to or reference “toy” and
“pillow”, I feel that play becomes the catalyst for understanding the function of play
in our own lives.
As any one who reads this here blog knows I love when something soft is made hard and vice versa. So I loved the slick glassy texture of Nathan's cast teethers and especially loved the moments of fold of squish that was frozen in the clay.
See his work in person at the gallery. And when he gets a website up I will let you know, get on that Nathan!
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1 comment:
I'm happy to know those things are called 'teethers' because that's exactly what they looked like when I saw them in yesterday's post. The soft/hard contradiction is intriguing.
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