Aubrey Vollrath
My works are driven by an enchantment with sleaziness—slimy, repulsive, charged objects that vibrate with the same energy as the wrong side of town. They buzz, like to get buzzed, fumble around, slump over, and ooze bad-girl behavior. It’s the attraction and repulsion of smeared lipstick, Xanax, Sour Punch candy straws, and fake tans. Each piece wants so much to be loved, and desired, and played with. My work is bad posing as good—the attempt at making a joke and missing the punch line, or a conversation with your weird uncle. I work with molds of found objects, resin casts, chewed bubble gum, wisdom teeth, plastic bags, porcelain cat statues with sprinkles on top. Composition books, eggs, cactus, concrete, and Spam. My inspiration comes from Robert Gober, Franz West, Judy Pfaff, Andy Coolquitt, Cheetos, and my home state of Florida. When I make work, I feel half like the Venus de Milo, half like Walter Stevens in Bruce Nauman’s Clown Torture. Either way, I’m on an authentic mission to add to the conversation surrounding the old question of what it means to be a Barbie girl in a Barbie world—in all its shiny, gruesome, plastic-packaged splendor.
Aubrey Vollrath, 2015