These sculptural works from Kate MacDowell are as delicately beautiful as they are uncomfortably disturbing. Her pieces often merge the human form into and around that of the animal and plant world, creating surreal images which embody a spirit of decay. While they could be simply taken as an imaginative interweaving of life and its creatures, the meaning behind her work is far reaching:
“In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment. These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops. They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones. In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for ourselves and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world. In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices.”
She creates each of her pieces by hand-sculpting each element, often building up a solid form and then hollowing it. When you consider the small scale of each work, you realize the talent she has as she constructs them piece by piece. Why choose this fine ceramic as her medium?
“It highlights both the impermanence and fragility of natural forms in a dying ecosystem, while paradoxically, being a material that can last for thousands of years and is historically associated with high status and value.”
You can see more of her work at katemacdowell.com.
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