Artist's Statement
My work investigates the human body as it intersects with culture, history, and
psyche. I work in a variety of media according to the dictates of the idea.
As a sculptor, the material substance of the body intrigues me. I am especially
interested in fat, aging, and otherwise culturally despised bodies. I am both
attracted and repulsed by the desire to re-form the body through the
self-inflicted bodily trauma of surgical intervention. These pieces reflect that
internal contradiction.
I often use the garment form as a framing device to present selected portions of
the body and to reference cultural associations. The resulting sculptures appear
to be both clothing and parts of bodies. This ambiguity implies similarities
between the relationship of a person to her or his body and that of the body to
its clothing. It contends that a contemporary person wears her or his body as a
decorative object separate from the self. Like clothing, the body can be altered
or made over to suit various cultural needs. Its attributes can be carefully
accented or altered, obsessively planned and compulsively maintained.
My work investigates the human body as it intersects with culture, history, and
psyche. I work in a variety of media according to the dictates of the idea.
As a sculptor, the material substance of the body intrigues me. I am especially
interested in fat, aging, and otherwise culturally despised bodies. I am both
attracted and repulsed by the desire to re-form the body through the
self-inflicted bodily trauma of surgical intervention. These pieces reflect that
internal contradiction.
I often use the garment form as a framing device to present selected portions of
the body and to reference cultural associations. The resulting sculptures appear
to be both clothing and parts of bodies. This ambiguity implies similarities
between the relationship of a person to her or his body and that of the body to
its clothing. It contends that a contemporary person wears her or his body as a
decorative object separate from the self. Like clothing, the body can be altered
or made over to suit various cultural needs. Its attributes can be carefully
accented or altered, obsessively planned and compulsively maintained.
| All rights reserved, © Ann Rowles |
Ann Rowles
Mixed Media Sculpture
Mixed Media Sculpture
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