Lauren Kalman

(USA, 1980)

Device for Filling a Void (4), 2015

object (acquisition)
gold-plated electroformed copper, brass, earthenware
150 x 75 x 75 mm

photo (donation of the artist)
Inkjet print
500 x 400 mm

‘Devices for Filling a Void combines jewelry, with forms reminiscent of reconstructive surgical devices and amorphous bodily forms. Rather than presenting or holding the body in an ideal position, they distort the body through actions that are sometimes grotesque or violent. The objects literally fill the voids of the body, but the forms also imply a psychological filling of emotional or erotic voids. The work points to ideas about women being incomplete or lacking, requiring augmentation by men, objects, dress, makeup and adornment.’ – www.laurenkalman.com