Romy Aura Maloon: May 2009

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Quarry- Senior Thesis

I create sculptures using clay that are generally fractured and broken; the ceramic material echoes the cultural and social fissures created by cultural and generational displacement. I use ceramic for its organic properties as well as its association with American kitsch. I use molds to create repetition; this provides movement and unifies the splintered elements of the sculpture. The image of fractured antelope parts (predominantly the horn) mimics the hunting trophy, but reconfigures its aesthetic and position. Mounted hunting trophies and guns can insight feelings of great unease or admiration depending on the perspective of the viewer. No matter how an individual feels about hunting as sport, it is an activity of power and dominance. It is this space, between the unsettling and the beautiful, the fractured and whole, the displaced and the rooted, that I encourage the viewer to question.