Vapours, 2005, glazed vitreous china clay, monofilament, dimensions variable
Sick Cups 2000-2014
The sick cup (invalid feeder) is used in a series of work that describes the power and susceptibility of the body through a metaphor of function. My feeders are based on 19th and early 20th century forms used in homes and hospitals prior to the use of drinking straws and intravenous apparatus for the care of the sick, the bedridden, the very young, and the very old. Each one is a permutation of an original antique feeder, made while I was a resident artist at the Kohler Company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin from the same materials used in the factory for sanitary ware such as toilets and sinks. Morphing, deconstructing, and collapsing forms suggest matter and bodies in flux and changes beyond our perceptions of the ideal.
