Cope
Ceramic, acrylics, mix media
10″ x 15″ x 8″
2016
Erika Sanada does absolutely stunning sculptures, which are born of anxiety and trauma:
My work reflects the weird and the creepy; I am fascinated with the dark side. “Odd Things” is my current body of work and I use ceramic for making bizarre creatures. They have extra body parts such as multiple arms, legs, teeth and ears. These are how I express my sensitive mind. There are two reasons I create misshapen and abnormal work. One is my bitter childhood and the second is my constant anxieties.
When I was young, my friends ignored and bullied me. As a result, I stayed indoors and watched supernatural movies and animations. They helped me escape from reality and gave me power. These movies showed main characters using magic to turn others into freakish animals and insects. This transformation inspired me to make work that reflected the images that I saw in those movies and animations.
I have had an anxious personality since I was a child. I worry about everything, even tiny things. Anxiety drags my mind to the dark side, which is more powerful and intense than my bright side. Sometimes I can’t move forward because I am emotionally paralyzed. I decided to go face-to-face with my anxieties by creating irregular and eerie creatures representing my dark side. As a result, these creatures show my twisted mind as I try to overcome anxiety through my creation.
Influence
Ceramic, glaze
10.5″ x 9″ x 10″
2015
Have a look at Odd Things, wonderfully beautiful and thought provoking.
Those are incredible!
The work is so clean and sharp, I thought it was 3D renderings at first.
I had to stop counting all the ones I’d like to own, and settled for “all of them!”
Although, if I had to choose, it would be Influence. (2nd photo). That one speaks to my own fucked up childhood.
“Nailed it.”
Her use of color and composition, and the allegorical surreality reminds me (in a good way) of Michael Parkes, who is also now doing sculptures. I love these all a lot.
I wish I knew the scale of the work. How big are these things? I could see them being very cool in pretty much any size and they’d be mind-blowing if they were huge (15′ tall)
Marcus, the size is given for each piece. In the two I included (see caption), 10″ x 15″ x 8″ and 10.5″ x 9″ x 10″.
the size is given for each piece
Read fail. I was too busy gawping at the art.
The sculptures are great and disturbing (and reflect the reality really well).
I find them eerie (my word of the day). And fascinating.
love them :)
Something else you might be interested in:
http://www.shauntan.net/books/Grimm%20Tales.html
Be sure to follow the link to the Singing Bones page too -- according to Amazon not available in the US until October.