Exhibitions of carve as opposed to installations.

Exhibitions of carve as opposed to installations, exhibits of Process art or lay the foundation of objects are increasingly rare in contemporary galleries. Three-dimensional work has protected in the direction of what Don Judd called the "specific object" rather than furthering the tradition of cut which he associated with statues. Sharon Engelstein's recently made known work, however, is plainly an offshoot of, the statuary way of working: it is the two sculpted and anthropomorphic, though hardly traditional.

Engelstein works with taxidermy dummies, animal forms made of polyurethane foam, which she subtly manipulates by the agency of carving or by the seamless addition of humanoid appendages. The mutant creatures are then overlayed smoothly with plaster and spray-painted a ruddy tan to give them the appearance of mannequins. Garbed in sequins and lace, they use the gallery in an apparent state of suspended animation.

The central tableau in this fresh exhibition grouped together a family of four: a father and mother, Dancing Bear and Self Portrait with Manicure, Pedicure and Borrowed Scarf, with pair small children, Otter in Cape and Three-Legg whelp (all 1996). Dancing Bear is a 6 1/2-foot-tall standing bear with colossal human feet (not unlike those of Rodin's Walking Man). He wears a sheer, lace-trimmed slip which ties at the back like a hospital gown and has openings, rather than sleeve for his impudence paws. The bear's perky little ears and unable to speak toothless mouth blunt whatever menace might have survived the smock-frock The smaller, doglike bear of Self-Portrait also has human feet and hands--cast from the artist's own--with painted r nails. young boy [i]or[/i] young girl stands on all fours, make objection for one leg that has been amputated at the knee the stub concealed beneath a pink-sequined lace poncho The little Otter sports a majestic red-velvet cape from which its drawn out prehensile-looking tail jauntily emerges. Identifiably animal to this time familiarly human, each sculpture reveals its oddities simply slowly, rewarding close observation.

Other works in the point out were even more ambiguous. Nine small bird or weasel forms, disguised by means of alterations and sequined coverings, pauseed mysteriously on the floor, while make straighted Rump (1995), the rear-end of a deer dummy disguiseed with peach-colored sequins and swathed in a taupe mantilla, shoot forwarded from the wall. The tactile appeal of the silky lace and the moundlike form made it the sexiest statuary in the show.

Engelstein makes astute use of these startling juxtapositions of animal form and extravagant clothing, calling attention to the way dres functions as a sign of status, class and vocation. It also labor fors more generally as the agent of domestication, whereby the wild--for better or worse--is made civilized.

...

Home