Boy with Bird

Comment

Comment by Susan Margaret Vaughan on November 26, 2016 at 6:28pm

Thank-you for your comments, Kristen. Yes, "Boy with Bird" is constructed of intact found objects. The boy was a small garden statue, about a foot tall, and I wired a found plaster face to his head. He's standing on a small wood bird cage which is resting on an inverted tractor seat. The whole piece is about 2 1/2' tall.

"Madonna" is made of found objects also, including her face which was a found piece; I didn't form the face, I just found it and placed it. Her torso is comprised of an old tooled leather bicycle seat; the halo is a car brake disc, or some other type of car disc, which I gold-leafed (I actually gold-leafed it before this piece was even conceived. I was playing around with gold-leaf in my studio, applying it to random things. Only when this Madonna piece came together did I realize why I had gold-leafed that disc!! Talk about magical!! :) "Madonna" is about 15" tall.

It's so great to get feedback about my work. I really appreciate it!! Thanks.

Comment by Resident Curator on November 26, 2016 at 10:20am

Curator’s Comments:

 

Boy with Bird is an interesting sculptural piece that appears small in stature and constructed at least in part of intact found objects.  Without much information about the media or scale, I imagine a feeling of intimacy from the doll like figure perched on top of the filigreed pedestal.  There is also a preciousness to the elevation and bodily gesture of the subject.  In some ways the expression of the piece is much less whimsical that your other assemblage works; I wonder if this is deliberate, or due to the inherent nature of the components.  Conversely, the sculpture entitled Madonna seems hand formed rather than additively constructed, and has a decidedly folk sensibility.  The surfaces suggest a mix of media as well, but to my eye they appear more integrated or manipulated/worked than Boy with Bird. I especially enjoy the subtle marking on the body/torso of the Madonna, which looks like hand tooled leather.  The curvilinear weight of the form nicely echoes the circular halo above.  Both works have an almost fetishistic appeal- as if the objects are imbued with magical or spiritual properties.