THE UNEQUIVOCAL TITLES EMPLOYE...
The unequivocal titles employed by Paloma Varga Weisz for her sculptural works belie the complex nature of the pieces she presents to the viewer. Dogman, Bumpman, Boxman; all function as descriptions of the works and what they portray, as much as titles. What they do not denote is the strong sense of narrative apparent in the work, nor do they explain the subtle feelings which are evoked by her silent figures. Her expressive, and often disquietening works have the ability both to charm and unsettle. They seem to encapsulate something of the shift in understanding achieved in the transition from childhood innocence to adult knowingness – fairy story images which previously entertained become horrific through re-evaluation – and their strange combinations provoke uncomfortable references.Her Dogman character is a sorry individual, an adolescent human body with dog-ears and a sturdy tail, surrounded by wood chippings -the material from which he has been hewn. As with much of her hand-carved work, these chippings could be indicative simply of the process of the dog-man’s creation, could infer a past act of violence, or could comment on the relationship of man to beast. It is impossible to tell whether human is taking over dog or vice versa, but he seems trapped by our inability to do so. A closer examination of a shrunken man sitting on a tree trunk reveals that his gnomic body is covered in swellings that might denote an illness, or link him to a character from myths and folklore. He is the Bumpman of the work’s title and was developed by the artist from a wide range of sources including medical websites and childrens’ stories. The beautifully intricate carving of the figure is at odds with the diseased form. In Boxman Varga Weisz borrows from an established art historical language, quoting artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, as well as the niches of classical and medieval imagery, but she twists the meaning and the dialect to reclaim these conversations for her work. He suffers from a similar disorder, but is wrapped in elegantly pleated, coloured material which is in contrast with the recessed cardboard box in which he lies sleeping. While Varga Weisz’s decision to use such sumptuous material was governed by a purely formal judgement, it is visual contradictions such as these that result in a wider reading of the layered references apparent in her work.
In developing her sculptures Varga Weisz is influenced by her physical working method and the many visual and literary sources that she encounters during this time, as well as purely formal decisions. There is a metamorphosis brought about by her creative process - the figures emerge gradually as she moves from the exterior to the interior both in a physical sense through carving the wood, and in a conceptual sense as her ideas crystallise from one step to the next. She is keen to establish and maintain a distance between the viewer and any literal meaning, preferring them to bring their own associative ideas to bear on her work. In this way, her sculptures remain stubbornly enigmatic yet strangely familiar, as well as irritating to the subconscious due to our inability to finally place them or their specific meaning.