Jenny Kendler
Mounting, hand-sculpted plasticine figure, lipstick, iridescent pigment and Arizona quartz in scientific bell-jar 12" x 7" x 7"
People often identify the Earth as being feminine, in idea or sometimes in literal “flesh”. Take for example, the famous Gaia, or the many stories, such as the Hellenic origin myths, of the Earth represented literally or figuratively as a female goddess. What does it mean to identify the planet on which we live with a particular gender? How should we take this today, when the “body” of the Earth is plowed, mined, and otherwise despoiled? Is gender a factor in how we treat the Earth?
A glittering peak of quartz crystals, are mounted, in a sexually suggestive way, by a painstakingly sculpted tiny female figure. Whether this piece represents an “Earth Goddess” bonding with the Earth, a cheeky poke at an outdated stereotype, a woman gyrating on a feminized phallic symbol, or a third-wave re-embrasure of ‘feminine’ ideals, remains up to the viewer to decide.
This piece will be included in the upcoming show RE:figure at Columbia College’s Glass Curtain Gallery, in which LY artists Stacia Yeapanis and Amber Hawk Swanson will also be participating.
More of my work can be seen at jennykendler.com
Dear Jenny,
I absolutely love this work!
Are you developing new sculptures in this medium?
Cheers!
Cathy
Thanks Cathy.
I really enjoy working this way, and think this makes a nice compliment to my drawing/installation works. I plan to keep making work like this along side my projects in other mediums, as I am of the opinion that certain ideas cleave to certain modes of expression.
I do have definitive plans a couple more miniature sculptural pieces, that I hope to work on soon, one that will be more elaborate and larger: a feral girl with her family of foxes feeding on an elk carcass.
I’ve been working on a way to maintain a habitat with live plants. Former galleries that hosted these works had a hard time keeping the plants alive, so I replaced them (in Nature Shall Provide) with faux plants — but I much prefer the idea of the tiny figures in a living landscape. Experiments with moss are working well, and I think I’ll be trying a container with some ventilation for the next piece.