Fetish Feel Gallery

fet-ish n.
An object that is believed to have magical powers.
An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence.
Something that arouses sexual desire.
An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.

Fetish Feel Artist’s Statement

Realizing their fetishistic impulse, I began new variations of my “sprout” forms: serpentine, ambiguous and colorful.  In the creation of these first new works I began to fixate on my hands as they worked.
 I began to observe the space within my hands as they grasped, and manipulated tools and materials to make clay sculptures as well as corrugated boxes.
 Drawing inspiration from how I used my hands in the act of creating, I shifted emphasis to my hands specifically.  Considering that a primal impulse one has to encountering moist clay is to either pinch or press a hand in to it, making a print, I took that idea and explored it anew.
 Interested in capturing the many gestures my hands make, I began to sculpt the space within them, shaping and smoothing the form in the grip of my hand.  Upon release of the hand, leaving behind the negative imprint, the resulting form is sculptural, sensual and tactile as well as a record of the gesture.
 Considering formal and aesthetic relationships, the resulting mini sculptures are paired or grouped together.  Bright, colorful glazes are applied to the areas around the hand space creating contrast, further fetishizing them.
 Initial presentations of the ceramic hand forms were housed in handmade, custom boxes, again referencing the gestures of the hands making the boxes. This also creates a contrast between the permanent glazed ceramic with the valueless recyclable corrugated box.
 These tiny, colorful ceramic sculptures when examined and held are akin to miniature Scholar’s rocks to be explored and contemplated, possessing a tactile fetishism.
Additional modes of presentation are explored to create a variety of wall hanging and pedestal sculptures as well as photographic montages causing shifts in perception of size and scale, allowing one to imagine these tiny works as monumental.

© Jim Keville 1994-2013 | Web Design & Maintanance ByEllie Zenhari