Smiley Vases
Works are between 9.5 and 14 inches in height (24 and 30.5 cm)
ARTRUSS INAUGURAL / CHICAGO IL 2022
Thrown with porcelain and vandalized with spray-paint, Smiley Vases are unapologetically contrarian.
Vases are wheel-thrown with precision; adhering to the rules of craft, concerning form and function. The juxtaposed paint marks are gestural, intuitive, and seemingly random; as there is a stronger embrace of chance and immediacy. Relationships of hierarchy, culture, and kitsch are embraced with one universal expression–the smile. Materials are leveraged for their inherent symbolic significances: porcelain with high-culture, purity, and ‘idealism’; along with tradition, craft, and uniformity. On the other hand, spray-paint connotes the undesirable, vandalism, activism, and ‘rebellious’ expression. Yet ‘the smile’ suspends each’s vernacular into one collective statement.
