PAST SHOW
"Invisible Coterie" works by Camilla Taylor
june 16 through july 15, 2006
artist reception: friday, june 16, 6-9 pm
Camilla Taylor, known for her work in printmaking, running
the vegan bondage gear company Vegan Erotica and
organizing print exchanges in Salt Lake City before
moving to Phoenix, is bringing her series of strange dolls
back to her hometown. This series of handmade dolls or
figures represents a significant shift in form and medium in
Taylor's work. The dolls are made of found fabric,
collected from the detritus of relationships with friends and
strangers, and painted polymer clay. Each doll has its
own individual features and expression. Previous work with
dolls was most in the tradition of printmaking, with an
edition or multiples of identical dolls made.
Ideas, desires and fears control us and dictate what we
do as long as we allow them to. The dolls Taylor creates
are these passions hypostatized and manifest. They are
creatures distinct from us and with different abilities, like
the Greeks daemons or daimons or the many Orishas of
Santeria, spirits neither good nor evil, but simply citizens of
the ethereal world who have their own particular tasks
and jobs to perform. Unlike traditional daemons and
Orishas, these creatures cannot be invoked for aid or a
better outcome; they simply are. Minor mishaps or tiny
boons governed are governed and owned by them,
each created by our existence and repetition of these
acts. These dolls are the people who are responsible for
things which we, humans, aren't responsible for, or would
simply prefer not to be responsible for: our contemporary
demigods.