Shanna Fliegel
Artist Statement
The surrealistic nature of dreams and childhood memories motivate the manifestation of the drawn, sculpted, and painted images and forms within my work. I intend for image, color and clay to exist as a harmonious vehicle that can generate stories for the viewer.
By combining the parts of horses, rabbits, insects, birds, and other various animals with human components I attempt to shape characters within the fantasy worlds that once dictated our childhood thoughts. Absurdity and humor are themes that circulate throughout situations I illustrate. Matt Dukes Jordan, author of Weirdo Deluxe, confirms that:
“… revel in the ribald, love the lurid, and turn the everyday world upside down. Carnivalesque art is a liberating comic release from the sometimes rigid and confining classical ideals of beauty and refinement.”
Beyond the bizarre, I also question the disposition of contemporary society’s relationship with animals, and am interested in ideas that surround humans’ need to anthropomorphize them. Recently I’ve become interested in the juxtaposition between society’s constructs of architectural forms among nature’s habitats. I hope to raise some social and environmental concern with these themes.
I am drawn to a kind of aesthetic that is between both awkward and direct. Spontaneity often dictates how I approach clay, line, and content. Finding the unique balance between the freshness that this sort of aesthetic implies and the correct assertion of control over material and content keeps me searching and working.
Shanna Fliegel, February 2009
