My Kinda Dirty

My Kinda Dirty
2011
Oil Based Clay
Photo Courtesy of Adrian Curwen
A preliminary shot of my newest work. I usually don't share a thing until I've got a full set of Photos to share, but my excitement over this piece is driving me nuts. I'm SO happy with how she turned out!
Now for anyone following me closely, this one was uploaded just 10 days ago as a result of my '...petting the dog', if you will position of not tending to the other works I've been preparing for the upcoming Works Festival in Edmonton this Summer. My result, however, turned into one of my most unique and all 'round fun new projects that will also indeed be on display at The Works!
First off, my favourite swing of the whole piece are the immediacies of what jump out at us: large breasts, cigarettes, snakes and a giant skull. The quadra-fecta of evil and excitement! To me, anyway. The four elements combined (minus the large breasts, we'll say) are my own symbolic icons of being attracted to sin or dirtiness. I've recently become comfortable with admitting that as a proud NON smoker, I have a bizarre attraction to women who smoke.
The character's hair beneath her miniature novelty top hat provokes a slight and subtle twist of glamour and old fashioned culture, something I'm having a lot more fun with including in my newer works. The snake perched on her left hand, now this is certainly where we demand more Photos added to the lot, marks a very simple and very tactful symbol of sin, or evil. Perhaps inspired by the now cliche of the snake and forbidden fruit, the affectionate pose of the character's hand beneath the snake's aggressive clench on top of it marks the parallel of embracing what we know and ultimately admit to be wrong, or 'dirty'. I believe that the act of living in conceivably clean or immaculate ways is unhealthy, unnatural and voids our passage of experience and conditioning to the transcendent values of life, be them good or bad. Finally, and biting on once again to cliche, is of course the giant skull the character is perched on. There is indeed nothing wholly symbolic behind this skull, simply just a declaration of death and mortality infused with the presence of beauty and glamour.
Completed in just 5 days, this piece was made for me and was made purely for fun. My shy and embarrassed attraction to women smoking is something I just laugh at and have fun with now. I love the look of it when in her company, and even the taste of it when I'm kissing her. So long as it's not that Canadian Export A or Dumaurier garbage. And I even know the brands now...!

My Kinda Dirty
2011
Oil Based Clays
Photo Courtesy of Adrian Curwen