Not For You Bunny, 2018
Not For You Bunny Installation, Lucas Lucas Gallery, NYC, NY
The exhibition title, Not For You, Bunny serves as a double entendre, simultaneously rebuffing the act of objectification and asserting agency over one's own body. Heavily influenced by feminist theory and the Rococo art movement of eighteenth-century France, my research-based practice grapples with non-traditional representations of gender and power, defying the perimeters of what feminine expression is expected to be, as defined by the status quo. Teeming with references to notable women throughout art history, mainstream entertainment, Greek mythology, and contemporary girlhood culture, Not for You, Bunny utilizes ceramics as both a functional and allegorical medium, imbuing the exhibition with a fanciful, cheeky tone while implicating darker thematic beneath the exterior. In a nod to the extravagant aesthetic of my source material, I aim to weave together imagery from across centuries, juxtaposing rocaille ornamentation with five-and-dime kitsch, to challenge contemporary notions of value, substance, and the evolution of gender stereotypes.