Spheres

If circles represent perfection while also offering the paradox of self-enclosure and openness, then spheres offer a three-dimensional metaphysic of the circle that expands the metaphor and the paradox. My attraction to spheres is hence a natural extension of my fascination with circles, which appear everywhere in my work. Still, spheres also offer the affordances of sculpture—the ability to draw the viewer inside (and, in the case of Self Portrait in Tootsie Roll Pop, to draw myself inside, with a casting of my head evocatively placed at the center and put on a pedestal). Indeed, especially in the case of Cowgirl Hat Ball, the inside proves to be as enticing and mysterious as the outside. In that piece there is a reversal at work, in which the expected outside, the protruding, “masculine” top of the cowboy hat, is reversed to become the inside, and the inside of the hat, the former interior with its feminine oval orifice, takes the outside, exterior spotlight; its reverse, that which is usually seen, is now only inferred—unless, that is, the viewer chooses to take a peek inside. That larger-than-life statement of female power is echoed in its much smaller progeny, Cowboy Hat Ball 2.

The undermining of traditional power semiotics continues with Trigger, a comedic explosion in which symbols of power undermine themselves; the cast guns are all handmade foam constructions whose pretense of power is reduced to a joke. One wonders if there is any real power there at all. If so, where does it come from? If not, where does true power come from? Again, an echo appears in its smaller progeny piece, leading to a contemplation of what is birthed by such displays.

Living and Breathing continues this theme of reversals. With the recorded sound of my breath emanating from the sculptural creature and drawing the viewer in to its source, the viewer is being drawn by that which manifests outwardly to that which is a literal ex-pression of the interior. The distinction between exterior and interior is thus once again put into question as that which comes from deep within is externalized to become the outer world internalized by another, dialectically erasing the inner/outer dichotomy. As before, then, the fact that this work has produced a progeny piece points to the ways in which the cultural dialogue about how we affect one another, a dialogue full of the language of power and autonomy, resonates in many spheres (here depicted literally), be it political, social, or environmental.