Abstract

The figure in art is one of the most recognizable and accessible points into visual language that has been produced infinitely across geography, culture, and time. It is a direct reflection of human consciousness, allowing a viewer to see the light of humanity within the fixed eyes returning their gaze. A visual tradition that bears cultural significance, narrative, and morality, the figure shoulders the conventions of one’s settings, the ideological priorities and standards of the contemporary. As with sociocultural relationships to self, the sculpted figure suffers the scrutiny of gendered philosophy. When the artist makes deliberate choices on how to express gender and sexuality in a piece, they are effectively canonizing a particular ideology, whether through ratification or rejection. Idealized notions of gender, modesty, and intimacies are mirrored back. Sculpting a figure with queer tone inherently sustains a sociopolitical statement that queerness is worth the radical act of taking up physical space in public, to be spectated without shame or censorship. Clay is a particularly transitive material that shifts naturally, by exposure to water and air. Clay experiences ongoing transitions, working with nature and man, molded by its circumstances. In viewing the materiality of clay as animate and embodied, it severs the art historical assumption that the art object is a manipulation of inert matter. Removing material theory from art creates a hierarchy between man and material. It is rather a collaborative process. The transformative and malleable nature of clay is a perfect analogy for sexuality and gender, in their respective fluidity but also their ability to push against boundaries and transform. Through ceramic figural sculpture, connection and liberation from gender ideology can be explored, highlighting and canonizing the immutable and persisting beauty of queerness in all shapes and forms.

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