Last summer, I was cleaning out my studio and hauled out an old sculpture from the closet it had been parked in for more than 20 years. The sculpture is a student work - the first sculpture I ever cast in plaster, in fact. I'd kept it all these years because I really like some things about it. But from one angle it kinda looks like a deoderant check. And there are technical problems. So, I decided to throw it out. As I put it in the trash can, I wondered, "Is there anything I can do with this besides throw it out?" I remembered an old idea and ideas don't have expiration dates. The idea was one I'd thought of years ago, but had never acted on it. (I have a theory about ideas and actions - there's a 3 minute rule. Remind me to explain that later.) The idea was to wrap the figure in chains and flowers, sort of a female version of the Laocoon, symbolizing contemporary woman’s struggle with idolization and enslavement over her appearance. The flowers to represent the transitory rewards for a woman’s beauty; the chains to symbolize the trap inherent in the quest for physical beauty and perfection.
So I did it. I pulled the sculpture out of the trash can. I scrounged up some chain, found some little paper roses the right scale, put the whole thing together, and spraypainted it all white. Then I took photos and named it "American Woman." And here's the funny thing. That sculpture from the trash can was accepted in 4 out of 5 things I entered it in. It won an award in the first exhibition, was published in two art and literary magazines, and one publication designated me as a Distinguished Artist. And it was selected to represent my state in a year long online exhibition that's kind of a big deal, Figure50 2016.
After a run of glorious and unexpected successes, of course, "American Woman" got a couple of rejections. Oh well. You can't win them all. I don't know what happens next, but I'm not hearing the fat lady sing.
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