‘Wolf Girl III’ by sculptor and artist Cynthia Consentino, 2011.
Sculptor Cynthia Consentino hails from my state of birth Massachusetts, and is currently part of the Art Department staff at my mother’s alma mater of the University of Massachusetts. I hope Consentino’s students know how lucky they are to have such a talented (and rather wonderfully demented) mind at their disposal.
To help illuminate my point Consentino’s ceramic series called “Exquisite Corpse” borrowed its title and played upon the concept from a collaborative poetry game played by members of the Surrealist movement. It contains curious pieces that incorporate the bodies of animals and people with sinister and strangely captivating results. And while we’re on the topic of sinister ceramics Consentino’s portfolio is full of characters who fall into precisely that category, such as menacing looking human/wolf hybrids, angry children as well as toddlers armed with weapons.
According to an article on the artist from 2007, she was further inspired to mix-and-match her sculptures’ decidedly non-bianary gender compositions after reading a study that took on sexual stereotypes from the perspective of a five-year-old child. So instead of incorporating the heads (or bodies) of a predatory animal that one might associate with a “boy” Consentino sculpted a ferocious-looking wolf head onto the body of little girl wearing a pink dress. If you’d like to see Consentino’s work up close a few of her pieces are a part of four different current and upcoming exhibitions in New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston. Of course if you ever find yourself visiting the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in good-old Sheboygan, Wisconsin you’ll be able to get an eyeful of Consentino’s handiwork as her gorgeously odd creations adorn the walls and stalls of the entire ladies room.
Examples of Cynthia Consentino’s work follow—some might be considered NSFW.
‘Flower Girl I,’ 2004.
‘Tantrum,’ 2009.
‘Nude,’ 2008.
‘Lady,’ 2007.
‘Flower Girl VI,’ 2007.
‘Erin,’ 2011.
‘Rabbity Boy,’ 2010.
‘Wolf Girl II,’ 2003.
‘Self Portrait With Gun,’ 2005.
‘Iron Boy,’ 2007.
‘Nude Study with Rabbit Head,’ 2010.
H/T: Beautiful Decay
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Grandma’s ceramic figurines get a grim makeover