5. Packard ICBM The American 2017 72dpi

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on April 29, 2019 at 11:38am

Curator’s Comments:

This grouping of sculptural pieces look to have been crafted from missile shell cases, and carry with them all of the associations with bombs and war.  While they haven’t been disguised, or maybe they were specifically fabricated to emulate shell casings, they form decorative totems that offset if not contradict their ominous origins as weapons.  The piece on the far right for example, includes a black bomb motif and what look to be curricular targets.  But the repetition of the shapes diffuses their initial impact, and relegates them to surface ornamentation. The color also conjures a lighter candy-like connotation.  Looking back through your other pieces on the site, I remembered admiring your bikini cupcake sculpture about a year ago.   ICBM The American similarly and beautifully combines associations with hostility and whimsy, but the title of this piece goes further in identifying the aggressor. For me the ICBM’s have Cold War associations.  But even if these specific missiles are technologically outdated, and their forms decorated to make them more neutral, the threat and presence in our minds make them unsettling and regrettably current.