Page 71 - Wax Fusion Spring 2022 Issue 6 WIP v19

It’s fascinating to see the contradictory terms that people use to

describe your work – “sweet and sinister” - “attract and repel” –
“decoration and decay”- “figurative and surreal.” Even though

your work often references the Dutch painters who juxtaposed dead

animals with fruit and flowers, somehow viewers find your
sculptures more shocking, perhaps because wax can reproduce the

objects so perfectly in three dimensions. How do you feel about

these complex reactions, and how would you like viewers to
respond to your work?

I revel in complexity and

ambivalence, and these
are exactly the kind of

the reactions I’m hoping
to elicit! Wax plays a

crucial role in generating
both attraction and

repulsion – it mimics all
kinds of materials so
perfectly (flowers, fruits,

or foodstuf s), while also

embodying that lovely
fleshy uncanniness. It’s
the perfect medium to

‘get under the skin’ of
the viewer. Many of my

works resemble
confectionery. I enjoy

the idea that looking at
these works might

trigger a sensory as well
as an aesthetic response

– a play on the idea of
(good and bad) ‘taste.’

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