Amy J Wilson - Divine Cosmonauts

Divine Cosmonauts

A series of decorative miniature ceramic plates altered with impermanent marker, adding halos and space helmets. They are part of an ongoing project exploring the parallels and interplay between outer space and religious imagery. The project focuses in particular on animal astronauts that were sent into space, referencing the ceramic merchandise that was produced as part of the space race.

Amy said “The project is inspired by my fascination with animal histories, sci-fi and my complicated relationship to my catholic heritage. Play and scale are key elements of the work I make. The plates haven’t previously been displayed. When I came across your Tiny Gallery open call I was very excited by the idea of my mini plates being displayed in relation to your plastic cat viewers. Within the context of your Tiny Gallery the small intimate plates will blur between large commemorative merchandise and religious icons.”

Artists Statement

My practice revolves around our construction of cultural identities and relations via the figure of the animal, exploring notions of reproduction and representation. I work with mass-produced objects that depict animals or the natural, objects that offer a contrary, often inconsistent meeting of nature and artifice. Through a process of making and unmaking I create replicas, translating these objects into the complicated realm of simulacrum, asking whether there ever was an ‘original’ or only the copy of a copy. My work teases out parallels and interplay between areas that may at face value seem disparate such as toys, taxidermy, zoos, pets, museological taxonomies, figurines, souvenirs and scientific specimens. Through processes that incorporate craft and tech, using casting and printmaking in combination with 3D scanning and 3D printing, surfaces within my work move between the three dimensional and the two dimensional, oscillating between flat cartoon imagery and hollow interiors. Working in this way I pull together languages of perceived high and low culture: children’s toys become ceramic figurines that hover between luxury object and slipcast multiple; kitsch cats that sit on decorative ceramic plates are sliced to reveal cartoon innards.

www.amyjwilson.co.uk

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