Kat Pickrel

← Return to The Space in Between: 2021 Senior Art Exhibition

 

 

While the early years of my art education were focused on painting and drawing, my recent practice has shifted to an emphasis on sculpture. I am interested in making structures that appear to be made of an entirely different material than that with which they were actually built. While there is something to be said about certain materials and the histories to which they are inevitably tied, I’ve been experimenting with methods of detaching a material from its history, toward creating a neutral object. My approach is to completely transform a material, disguising it as something else in an attempt to rid it of historical context. Much of my work involves objects made of foam, covered in water putty, then finished with joint compound, paint, and high gloss. I have been experimenting with finding the perfect, neutral color; neutral not in the aesthetic sense (as in beige or a grey), but neutral in the sense that the color does not evoke a specific emotion. Like the small, organic foam shapes I create, I try to exist in a space that complements everything around me—even when, sometimes, it just doesn’t fit. I navigate my sexuality, identity, and place in the world through my small shapes and the sometimes harsh or conflicting conditions they exist in.

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