Pelt: steel, Pine needles (24"x18"x10")
My own interpretation of Meret Oppenheim’s definitive work, Object, is Pelt. A two- piece steel armature curves like a road or body part which then gets covered with a blanket of pine needles. It’s soft, rounded, and highly tactile. It invites you in to touch or smell, a 4D experience, to imagine with it. I used materials that were at my feet. The layers rely on the steel for form and balance. The skewed, sloppy direction of the needles replicate real placement on the forest floor, or hair on skin. This epidermis changes color with time, sheds, and thickens at parts. It personifies nature as woman and captures the dichotomy of permanence and impermanence.