On the American Museum of Ceramic Artwork in Pomona, an audacious set up by Christina A. West known as “Strut” left some early guests feeling uneasy — which was the purpose.
“She’s really pushing the boundaries,” says Beth Ann Gerstein, government director of the museum, who invited West to current an exhibition that opened this fall with a dwell mannequin. “I can’t tell you how many people told me how uncomfortable they were with the guy.”
West is a ceramic artist recognized for her explorations of the human type in provocative methods. At the museum, two of her ceramic stumps, or armatures, sit a number of toes excessive, each a fleshy pink with streaks of white and purple. On opening day of the exhibition, a nude mannequin in his late 40s clambered on every ceramic sculpture and struck a sequence of poses — kneeling, sprawling, strolling in what West calls a “strut” pose.
A mannequin poses awkwardly on considered one of Christina A. West’s pedestals in “Strut,” an American Museum of Ceramic Artwork exhibition that explores tropes of masculinity and the hero poses of basic male nude sculpture.
(Christina A. West)
“I am a fan of awkwardness in my work,” West mentioned in a cellphone interview. “So much of the representations that we see in classical sculpture are so beautiful, with so much grace and symmetry. I’ve always wanted to counter that. The idealism that I’ve seen in historical representations of the body doesn’t feel real to me.”
West acquired her bachelor’s in effective arts from Siena Heights College in Adrian, Mich., in 2003 and her grasp’s in effective arts from Alfred College in Alfred, N.Y., in 2006. She taught artwork at Georgia State College from 2009 to 2022 earlier than transferring to the artwork division on the College of Wisconsin in Madison. Typically, her work offers with the human type in dysmorphic methods, with faces which were sliced away or figures painted stark purple and white.
West has given some thought as to why she does what she does.
“I think it comes partially from my background as an athlete,” she mentioned. “ I was a competitive runner in high school and in college, and so I spent a lot of time training and having sore muscles and thinking about my body mechanics.” One other issue is “just having extreme social anxiety for a long, long time. People were fascinating to me, but also scary. I would kind of clam up around people because my brain would short-circuit.”
A nude mannequin awkwardly cradles a pedestal by artist Christina A. West, whose present “Strut” explores tropes of masculinity and performs off hero poses in historic sculpture.
(Nori Rasmussen)
Whereas fascinated with the physique, West didn’t wish to create but extra feminine nudes, so ubiquitous within the historical past of artwork. As a substitute, given the sculptural custom of heroic males posed in opposition to a pedestal, and as a flip of the male gaze, she needed “Strut” to re-examine males’s our bodies and their positions of energy.
Gerstein had seen West’s installations in different cities and watched her profession develop.
“I just always find her work intriguing,” Gerstein mentioned throughout a go to to the museum’s storage space to see two West artworks the museum owns: “Head First,” a 2013 sculpture of a pink, pregnant lady mendacity on her aspect, and a bit from her 2006 “Crouching” sequence depicting a person crouching in oversize boots.
The “Strut” present consists of images exhibiting close-ups of the nude male physique, in addition to two video displays exhibiting two fashions posing on West’s sculptures.
“I like the fact that they’re a little creepy,” Gerstein mentioned of West’s work, together with her shade selections. “I like things that make you a little uncomfortable, because then you have to think about, well, why does it make you uncomfortable?”
A mannequin wraps himself round considered one of Christina A. West’s ceramic sculptures in “Strut,” her exhibition exploring the tropes of masculinity on the America Museum of Ceramic Artwork in Pomona.
(Christina A. West)
‘Strut’
What: Christina A. West’s two “Strut” pedestals (with out dwell fashions), plus video of dwell fashions posing on the works When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays to Sundays, by way of Jan. 26Where: American Museum of Ceramic Artwork, 399 N. Garey Ave., PomonaAdmission: $7-$14Info: (909) 865-3146 or amoca.org
