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Artwork
Craft
#beads
#childhood
#Jeff Rubio
#reminiscence
#sculpture
All Photographs © Jeff Rubio, shared with permission
Anybody who grew up crafting with pony beads and twine will acknowledge the long-lasting beaded lizard. Dangling from backpacks touring to and from grade faculty, buying and selling colourful designs with buddies, and crafting these tiny reptiles collectively are fond reminiscences that come to thoughts when admiring at Jeff Rubio’s big creaturely sculptures.
Invoking queerness, nostalgia, and pleasure, the artist faucets into childhood expertise by creating large-scale variations of the youthful pastime. Based mostly in Philadelphia and understanding of the historic Bok constructing, Rubio first molds dozens of ceramic pony beads, considerably outsized compared to the standard craft materials. They then introduce vibrant rope to string collectively each bit to type the evocative, recognizable lizard form. Rubio additionally fashions massive metal paperclips onto a number of of their items to rework them into keychains, once more connecting to the act of crafting as a child, scrounging round for supplies, and dealing with essentially the most accessible provides.
“In my studio, I discover myself surrounded by tokens of my childhood—Tamagotchis, motion figures, and Joyful Meal toys. Whereas these artifacts maintain nice sentimental worth, they’re usually lots smaller than we recollect,” Rubio tells Colossal, explaining additional:
The small scale makes the childhood reminiscences extra distant and wistful. After I was creating a duplicate of the beaded lizard keychain from my childhood, I needed to have a deeper reflection on the act of play. By using large-scale ceramic beads, I’ve managed to recapture the feeling of being a small little one.
The artist continues to create works drawing from their adolescent reminiscences, specializing in iterations of Tamagotchis, Mr. Potato Head, and extra. Rubio is anticipating a forthcoming group present at Commonweal Gallery, opening this November. To see extra of their course of, try their Instagram and web site.
Picture by Ian Shiver
#beads
#childhood
#Jeff Rubio
#reminiscence
#sculpture
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