handpainted multiples of my teeth in the style of delftware, cone size porcelain, mazzerine stain, clear glaze. 2023
This is rooted in class and materiality (far from perfect teeth an obvious discussion of what poverty refers to as luxury bones). The plan for this project is to make a thousand slip cast porcelain copies of my own teeth. These teeth get a surface treatment referencing delft pottery and hints of gold luster to relegate my imperfect teeth to a high-class object referencing the “white gold” of porcelain as a historic material.
An opulence made available through the power of handmade.
The scenes illustrated upon disembodied dentures a dichotomy of the poor experience shown in the traditional and luxurious practice of delftware- a reflection on the ways in which I’ve been able to bike all over the world, participate in the arts, and otherwise quite literally “pull myself up from my bootstraps” (I do most frequently wear second-hand boots).
Though I have an expansive ceramics portfolio (dishes becoming a conduit for the barter system and a personal love language) this is the first time I explore ceramics for their materiality and relationship specifically to an opulent object. This is also the first time I use new resources as opposed to reclaim I’ve received free in exchange for labour.
Teeth are a clear and immediate marker of status in the caste system; this is ubiquitous the world over and not exclusive to the art world. However, arts, often a field in which a solid financial basis has the potential to push your career forward, class becomes very relevant not only in the conception of self but also the reception one receives from others.
An opportunity to pick apart the idea of the starving artist as a group in which the value of our labours frequently doesn’t directly translate to our personal enrichment.
Kellyann Marie 