Artist Statement by Tif Robinette
Pretty Pony. Performance by Tif Robinette
Artist Statement by Tif Robinette
Tif Robinette: ‘Finding the sweet spot between hyper-femininity and aggression, my work is fueled by revulsion to excessive beauty. The interplay between lust and loathing is found within the works, as excess engorges the forms. Rites of passage, such as baptisms, pageants, birthday parties and debutant balls, are environments I am interested in exploring. The organic forms, referencing entrails, cocoons, scatology and cave formations, become sites of obsessive adornment.
I work in many mediums simultaneously, each material demands a unique handling; from hand sewing, to bending wire, to mixing gelatinous plastics. Sourcing crafting and home improvement materials, including, silicone, glitter, plaster, satin, spray foam, puffy paint, and Styrofoam, I construct saccharine mountains reminiscent of post-party Barbie puke or pre-pageant nausea. Combining antique furniture, traditional bridal sewing techniques, and tufting, the hanging sculptures dangle like carcasses or bloated pageant dresses.
Through personal narratives of feminine mythology, family, and dreams, I explore the natural cycles of eating and excrement, beauty and vulgarity, desire and lust. Playful encounters with materials prompt my explorations of spaces and actions.’
Performance artist Tif Robinette. Photo by MK Moore
Tif Robinette About Her Background:
‘Raised homeschooled in West Virginia [USA], the eldest of nine children, I developed a vivacious imagination and a penchant for massive scale crafting. My experience growing up with seven younger sisters, and then attending a Southern women’s college, informs my fetishization of the nauseatingly pretty. My work, cursed to be cute, both rebels against, and embraces femininity. In a spirit of playfulness, I create sickly-sweet multi-media projects that reference environments, relationships, and my own history with a sense of excess and frivolity, finding the crude and fantastic in the everyday. I work in many media simultaneously, including painting, installation, sculpture and performance’.
Craftivism
Tif Robinette will be doing two performances at the queer arts and crafts exhibition titled Craftivism, curated by Canadian/ British/ American performance and video artist Coral Short. Pretty Pony (see photo above) is one of them. Craftivism will open in Brooklyn, July 2013.
Ange Groenwoud: I was born is Australia in a small and conservative country town. I was an only child to sheep farming parents. As a child I was always drawing and loved making drawings of an imaginary sister that I never had. One day at high school there was a girl called Jackie, who could have been my sister, and although I occasionally overheard the boys talk about her and how much they fancied their chances with her, they never got close to her. Instead, my friendship with her was the sister bond I so needed. I never saw my feelings for her as lesbian, so never saw the need to come out, that need came much later.
I began to image that if chocolate boxes came with lesbian pictures, how would they look? So I began a series of The Sweet Chocolate Box lesbian images. Some may find these too sweet, but I need to O.D., on sweetness from time to time, doesn’t everyone?
