kristina STAFFORD
MFA Opening MFA Show MFA Show MFA Show MFA Show Shrews Fiddle Shrews Fiddle detail Restraints Restraints detail Stocce Two Cradles Judas Cradle Large Judas Cradle Small Garrett SML Garret detail Collar and Cuffs Collar detail Rising Tide Rising Tide detail Fallbeil Fallbeil ground view
Vivum Excoriari
MFA Show
My inspirations for this body of sculpture are implements of torture and antique tools. I am interested in the relationship between historical value and psychological response; the push and pull of the terrible and beautiful. I am exploring the emotive substance of the objects by choosing implements that evoke an emotional and psychological response.
I am obsessed with objects that crush, grasp, cut, constrict, and bind such as axes, meat hooks and, most recently, medieval torture devices. I find them simultaneously beautiful and unsettling. These objects express themselves so clearly as a threat through their form, allowing the viewers to instantly recognize the purpose of the implement and relate it to their own bodies. I find beauty in the straightforward honesty of the object - it does not pretend to be anything other than itself. Through this body of work I want to communicate both visually and psychologically the disturbing and horrific history of the object as well the beauty of the form.

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