Monday, October 19, 2009

Beth Cavener Stichter's "On Tender Hooks"


Beth Cavener Stichter
"your eyes have their silence"
2009
Stoneware, sticks, whiskers
13 x 12 x 8 inches

In December 2006, I reviewed Beth Cavener Stichter's New York City solo exhibition "A Modest Proposal."
"There isn't anything extraordinary or even distinguished about Stichter's subject matter; she presents us with animals cowering, lounging, squirming, fucking, scowling. [...] Stichter's sculptures are strong because she is confident enough to tiptoe in cliche. As Wallace Stegner writes in his novel, All The Little Live Things, 'it's only the literary, hot for novelty, who fear cliche, and I am no longer of that tribe'; his point being that, unfashionable though they may be, cliches are usually more evocative than so much 'original' content.

Stichter's menagerie is familiar because it is family. We know these animals (and their foibles) because we know ourselves. Until we stop scratching the itch, then, the honest animals (rare among the self-styled avant garde) will continue to respond to work of this ilk. I look forward to following Stichter's work for years to come."

Beth Cavener Stichter
"Bolt"
2009
Stoneware, cast iron bolt, and washer
32 x 11 x 6 inches

Not surprisingly, then, I'm looking forward to Stichter's upcoming New York solo outing, "On Tender Hooks." The exhibition opens this Thursday, October 22nd, at Claire Oliver Gallery.


Beth Cavener Stichter
"Render"
2009
Stoneware, wooden peg
21 x 18 x 8 inches


Image credits: courtesy Beth Cavener Stichter

3 comments:

Chris Rywalt said...

Good lord this looks gruesome.

Donald Frazell said...

All cliches are true. But only about a small percentage, but an obvious one, of any population. The evil is when appplying a few generalities to a whole, for ones own purposes.

These are, pardon the pun, skewered cliches. Need to see more, not sure where i would put such things in my house, but well done. If slightly, er , askew. Maybe in a hunting lodge? Or SPCA headquarters? Though i don't think either would quite get it. Being cliches in themselves.

Glad to have you back. The poor folks at CultureMonster will be happy to have me spending more time at this site rather than tearing down their pitifuly cliched lives.

art collegia delenda est

Donald Frazell said...

Er, hello? Are you hibernating? too early in the season, and wrong species. Get back to work, enough recharging of the batteries. Thre is alot of evil and lies out there to combat, put on your gear, and charge!