Ideas that feed my work include desire, disease, fecundity and constraint. I seek archetypal forms, creating hybrids that take emotional cues from the human body but which possess the singularity of fruit, shells and roots. Visiting Scottish museums as a child, I was fascinated by ancient Pictish stone spheres. Oddly functional in appearance, they were accompanied by the phrase “use unknown, possibly ritual”. Old beyond my comprehension, these small forms had presence and mystery and gave me a sense of the power objects can have.
I begin by carving solid blocks of wax; creating a positive by the removal of material is both magical and challenging. Close attention is paid to the possibilities revealed as I go; the forms and ideas change as the carving progresses. Working intuitively, I learn what the piece is by making it. The wax is a pleasure to work, cool and sensuous, translucent and responsive. Art making is a transformative process - through artfulness, a humble material and dark subject matter can be transformed into an object that seduces.
Exploring the Darwinian notion that the fittest survive, I try to understand what makes an object desirable and how a viewer might possess it--visually? Tactilely? Mentally? Small pieces ask to be held in your hand. I once saw a vitrine of netsuke at the Victoria and Albert Museum. My nose was pressed against the glass and the urge to hold the objects was almost overwhelming. Those miniatures are more magnetic to me than any sculpture dominating a public plaza.
Pod-like forms have sawn off surfaces that reference human interventions such as dissection. Tiny glass beads are sprinkled across an egg wall. A friend once told me that the ability to accessorize is what separates us from the beasts. I think she was joking, but we do love to decorate. By wrapping and pinning, polishing and embellishing, I explore the human desire for artifice and decoration and our unwillingness to accept the world “as is”.
Recent explorations in presentation have led to a simple table with white tablecloth and halogen spotlights. I think of this scenario as a tableau or still life. On the table the objects exist in a surreal landscape, relating to one another as one creature relates to another, or its shell. Some pieces conceal themselves in the shadows; others bask in the spotlight, demanding attention.
I begin by carving solid blocks of wax; creating a positive by the removal of material is both magical and challenging. Close attention is paid to the possibilities revealed as I go; the forms and ideas change as the carving progresses. Working intuitively, I learn what the piece is by making it. The wax is a pleasure to work, cool and sensuous, translucent and responsive. Art making is a transformative process - through artfulness, a humble material and dark subject matter can be transformed into an object that seduces.
Exploring the Darwinian notion that the fittest survive, I try to understand what makes an object desirable and how a viewer might possess it--visually? Tactilely? Mentally? Small pieces ask to be held in your hand. I once saw a vitrine of netsuke at the Victoria and Albert Museum. My nose was pressed against the glass and the urge to hold the objects was almost overwhelming. Those miniatures are more magnetic to me than any sculpture dominating a public plaza.
Pod-like forms have sawn off surfaces that reference human interventions such as dissection. Tiny glass beads are sprinkled across an egg wall. A friend once told me that the ability to accessorize is what separates us from the beasts. I think she was joking, but we do love to decorate. By wrapping and pinning, polishing and embellishing, I explore the human desire for artifice and decoration and our unwillingness to accept the world “as is”.
Recent explorations in presentation have led to a simple table with white tablecloth and halogen spotlights. I think of this scenario as a tableau or still life. On the table the objects exist in a surreal landscape, relating to one another as one creature relates to another, or its shell. Some pieces conceal themselves in the shadows; others bask in the spotlight, demanding attention.
Kate Budd
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