Teeth and dental hygiene are important indicators of health. Despite the fact that they are visible at first glance, the inside of the mouth is a personal place, often only properly viewed by dentists and medical personnel, sometimes lovers, and your parents. Teeth are unique to an individual and visibly distinctly human. In these works, I take the topic of my obsession, namely teeth, and increase their scale or display them within a sculpture. Through this process I seek to engage the audience with my obsessive interest, momentarily encouraging them to look closely at what might otherwise repulse them.
In many of these sculptures, teeth are used interchangeably with worms. The association I have between worms and the human digestive system is clear and I often intermix the two in my symbolic shorthand. Worms, like the digestive system, remind me of transitions and changing states.
In many of these sculptures, teeth are used interchangeably with worms. The association I have between worms and the human digestive system is clear and I often intermix the two in my symbolic shorthand. Worms, like the digestive system, remind me of transitions and changing states.
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Expel/Delivery 12” x 24” x 10” ceramic/teeth/fabric 2014 This piece is an insertion of human teeth from my collection into a larger sculpture of a mandible. With the teeth emerging from the sculpture like a writhing mass, this work is a good example of my long-standing interest in worms, the intestines of the earth. The association I have between worms and the human digestive system is clear and I often intermix the two in my symbolic shorthand. Worms, like the digestive system, remind me of transitions and changing states. |
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Activities of Daily Living: Sockets & Strata 61” x 10” x 10” & 67” x 10” x 10” wood/ceramic/dental casts/glass/fabric 2014 This sculpture is a portrait of the artist as a teeth stack. Referencing archaeology and core samples, they recall my interest in classics and visually pay homage to the votive sculptures found at temples of Aesculapius. The stacked teeth are casts of my own, there is 24 of them which is the number of upper articulating vertebrae in humans . The objects attached are casts of the first bone that I collected. And of course, it stands at 5’7 which is my height. |
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we love this hole
48” x 6” x 6” ceramic/wood/intestine 2014 In this work sets of teeth emerge from a block of wood, like the larvae of insects that bore through the forests. The association I have between worms and larvae and the human digestive system is clear and I often intermix the two in my symbolic short hand. Worms, like the digestive system, remind me of transitions and and the way that internal things become external. |
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Vulvar Vestibule 20” x 20” x 11” ceramic/milk/hair/intestine 2014 In this work teeth emerge from a sculpture which represents the vuvlar vestibular cleft, like worms coming up from the ground. The vuvlar vestibular cleft is a transition point in the body, a vestibule, where the exterior becomes the interior. I often associate worms with transitions and the way that internal things become external. For me, they belong in most thresholds. |
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Pudendal Cleft 36” x 14” x 6” wood/milk 2014 In this work teeth emerge from a block of wood, like the larvae of insects that bore through the forests. Named for the pudendal cleft, a transition point in the body where the exterior of the human body becomes the interior, this sculpture makes clear the association I have between worms and thresholds. |