American artist Theo Trotter creates symbiotic sculptures that hold space in both realms of the beautiful and shocking.
Through the use of materials like clothing, bedding, and medical supplies, Trotter creates mixed media pieces that tell non-linear stories. These works comment on anatomical relationships through the predominant elements of texture and colour. The unpredictable visual descriptions within these sculptures are often disjointed; the remembrance of a dream or nightmare. Trotter explains these works represent the physical sensations that one might feel while sleeping and invites the viewer to share these visceral experiences in their experience. His work references the trans body as a palimpsest. This term palimpsest refers to a page from early manuscripts that would have the text scraped or washed off in preparation for another document. Upon seeing these works, there is delicacy and beauty in the lace, and then there are moments where the viewer questions the notion of beauty. Much like how our skin and bodies age and show the wear of time through bruises, wrinkles, or scars, Trotter’s work similarly captures moments of history and memory. The sculptural, cut sheets signify the fragmented way we remember. There is so much intention in the tightening, the scrunching, the fabric flipping. The connections between these cut pieces represent how we piece together our dreams and sleeping states.
Trotter’s work gives new life to biological functions and provides a space for the viewer to see in-between the unpleasant and intricately alluring.
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