Misty Gamble

Artist Statement

Issues surrounding femininity and set standards of normalcy, propriety and societal expectation inform my work. Through this work, I confront and challenge conventional standards of femininity, beauty, and power. Sculpted multiple figural fragments provide a perfect vehicle for communicating ideas about beauty, excess, opulence and the abject. From primping and accessorizing, my work explores these issues and how they impact womanhood. The work is influenced by my continued interest in not only figuration, but fashion, textile pattern, wallpaper and hair.

Abject Reverie is a body of work comprised of multiples, ceramics, mixed media, figuration and installation. Ageless women and accessories, inspired by the Rococo are depicted through wigs, torsos, busts and two installations. Roses, filigree, and cupcakes are surrogates for hair, while chihuahuas and cupcake multiples are examples of and surrogates for decoration and excess. These covetous symbols complete the figurative form and at the same time reference an absence of body.

Legless, armless torsos and busts in the form of mannequin bodies or dress forms hold up heads with enormous coiffures. Their gaze is unapologetic, even through hair that hides the ability to see. Referencing the Santos doll and the Barbie doll, these limbless forms have detachable heads. These works represent a stoic self-defining stance.

Indulgence, Succulence, Covetous, Rapture, Delectable, Luminosity, Luxuriant, Decadence, Titillation and Opulence define the work and are signifiers for a delicious color palette, form, line, and contemporary fetish objects.

The abject, defined as that which is rejected by or disturbs social reason, and inherently disturbs conventional identity and cultural concepts is reexamined in this exhibition. Here, the abject describes the role of the feminine as decoration. Here, indulgence and excess are symbols of the abject. When provocation, opulence, beauty and the abject meet, the duality of the work is simultaneously contradictory and complimentary.

-- Misty Gamble