Petah Coyne
Untitled #1060 (Tatiaroa), 2007, detail
Untitled #1060 (Tatiaroa), 2007, detail
Untitled #1060 (Tatiaroa), 2007
Untitled #1093, (Buddha Boy), 2001–2003
no information available
“Above and Beneath the Skin“, 2005 show, Installation View
Untitled # 1240 (Black Cloud)
Untitled # 1240 (Black Cloud), Installation View
“Everything That Rises Must Converge”, 2010-11, Installation View
“Everything That Rises Must Converge”, 2010-11, Installation View
Unlike many contemporary artists who focus on social or media-related issues, Petah Coyne imbues her work with a magical quality to evoke intensely personal associations. Her sculptures convey an inherent tension between vulnerability and aggression, innocence and seduction, beauty and decadence, and, ultimately, life and death. Coyne’s work seems Victorian in its combination of an overloaded refinement with a distinctly decadent and morbid undercurrent. Her innovative use of materials includes dead fish, mud, sticks, black sand, old car parts, wax, satin ribbons, artificial flowers and birds, birdcages, and most recently, taxidermy animals, Madonna statues, and horsehair.
A selection of Coyne’s recent work along with two new works are on view at MASS MoCA until April 3rd 2011. Viewers are transported when entering the galleries, baroque works delicately combining taxidermy birds and dripping with wax rise up from the floor and chandelier-type sculptures descend from the ceiling, taking full advantage of the multiple vantage point of MASS MoCA’s triple height gallery space. This exhibition particularly focuses on works from the last 10 years including selections from Coyne’s series based on Dante’s Inferno, such as Untitled #1180 (Beatrice) which transforms Dante’s love into a monumental sculpture of black wax covered flowers with the most subtle color breaking through, velvet and various taxidermy birds diving in and out of the towering form. Galleries filled with white wax sculptures are adjacent to the black works — these pale, ghostly images call forth Victorian lace and at the same time the frailty of life.
Review of Petah Coyne’s Current show at MASS, MoCA
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