| Drawings 1 | Drawings 2 | Drawings 3 | Drawings 4 | Video | Project Statement |
|
| Heterotopias (2011) _________________ |
| Reborn (2009) _________________ |
| Magic Window (2007) _________________ |
| Troglodyte (2005) ________________ |
| Breath Holes (2005) _________________ |
| Bucolic Life (2003) _________________ |
| Art as Therapy (2002) _________________ |
| Wishbook (2002) _________________ |
|
The three channel video work and drawings that make up the "Reborn" project depict life-like baby dolls as surrogate infants in fantasy mother/child tableaux that are at once erotic, reverent, stereotypical, sincere and absurd. Taking my queue from recent trends towards hyperrealism in the doll community, I crafted dolls out of a dedicated yearlong process, which included hand rooting each individual hair. After making the sculptures, I cast their “mothers.” The vernacular surrounding these types of dolls, known as reborns, often addresses them as living. For this project, I was interested in capitalizing on the inherent fantasy play potential of these objects as a way to represent some of the complexities around the idea of the 'maternal instinct.'
Audio on the "Reborn" project: +Conversation between Alison Gass, SF MOMA Assistant Curator of Painting & Sculpture, and Desirée Holman_5/21/09_Silverman GalleryAdditional text on the "Reborn" project: +Franklin Melendez's UCLA Armand Hammer Museum exhibition brochure text (pdf) |
