Stephanie Sherwood
The elevation of abject forms fascinates me. Fleshy shapes bound within a rigid cage; haphazard fabric, plastic, and paper cast aside in a shopping cart on a sidewalk; overflowing dumpsters—the stark contrast of chaos within a structure strikes an unexpected beauty.
The “Confine” series is a body of work defined by the imagery of soft, fleshy forms bound within the grid of a cage; they explore the inherent tension between the two entities. The wire baskets are rendered imperfectly and, combined with the soft forms pressing through the gaps in the bars, highlight the three dimensionality of the chosen still life. This imagery has been applied to some irregular surfaces, such as in situ installation of furniture and found objects and sculptural materials. Each item carries with it the history of its use, and the immediacy of its dumping is heightened by the immediacy of the painting.