Photos John Carlano, courtesy of Wexler Gallery.
Paul takes what is in essence a flayed
animal and further deconstructs it by alter-
ing it in some unmistakable way. For
R e-
garding Entropy,
2010, she removed the head
of the horse form and hung it on the wall
at about the height where it would naturally
be. With alertly pricked ears, the horse
appears to be “regarding” its own headless
body. Formally echoing the backing of a
wall-mounted sports trophy, a worn leather
horse collar encircles the neck. However,
the collar was made for a plow horse, not
the sleek, most likely quarter horse, model
Paul chose. The horse is covered, eyes,
hooves and all, with an almost plausible—
for a horse—cognac brown, unrelieved
by color variations.
In
Un D iFelice,
2008, named for the
famous love duet in Verdi’s
La Traviata,
a sleek whippet-like iridescent purple dog
is missing a foreleg, but that does not ini-
tially strike a viewer as strongly as the dog’s
narrow, raised muzzle and toothless, wide-
stretched mouth. Is it yawning or is it howl-
ing its love for an implied owner? A close
look reveals that the dog has only one fore-
leg. Unlike other seams in the work, the one
encircling the flat plane of the amputation
is composed of sutures.
According to gallerist Lewis Wexler,
Paul partly based
A ll o f M y Lovers Have Blue
Eyes,
2009, a dog with an awkwardly healed
broken leg, on one of her own pets. This
work, with its anxious, pale lidless eyes,
the only glass eyes in the show, effectively
illustrates one o f Paul’s overriding themes:
human-animal relationships dominated
by humans. In addition to what might be
an accidental injury, the dog seems to have
a docked tail. Its ears are stubs. Though
perhaps features of the original mannequin
(allowing for a dead animal’s ears to be
attached), they remind us of the still-extant
practice of mutilating pets to achieve a
perverse idea of beauty. The whole figure
communicates the assumption that animals
are commodities and that we have the right
to do with them as we please. In the Western
world we often regard pets with exagger-
ated sentimentality—until their infirmities
exceed their charms. Then they are put
down, to be replaced by younger models.
A mountain lion and ungulates of various
stamps are included in Paul’s “Peaceable
Queendom.” All manifest a hybridization
that is sensuous, alluring and treacherous.
Paul trained as a ceramist and regards the
Top:
A l l o f M y L o v e rs H a v e
B lu e E yes,
2009,
modified taxidermist’s
mannequin, leather,
glass eyes, 12 x 18 x 5 in.
Bottom:
T h e A r t if ic ia l Q ye e n d o m ,
2006, modified taxider-
mist’s mannequin, leath-
er, porcelain, mixed
media, 18 x 42 x 60 in.
knowledge of animal anatomy, which en-
ables her to teach the subject to veterinary
students, as essential to her sculpture.
In what could be considered the most
ambitious work in the exhibition,
The
Artificial Queendom,
a pale dog, perhaps
another whippet, gallops to the end of
a flower-covered wedge jutting out from
the wall. The sleek animal stumbles for-
ward, certain to fall. It has the antlers of
a small deer, suggesting that it is prey rather
than hunter, and a panting, delicately curl-
ing tongue hand-built of porcelain. It looks
almost plausible, but nothing is remotely
natural in this vignette. Its curious, stylized
quality falls between nature and what we
can make of nature. It suggests the unique
contradictory whole of Paul’s skillful,
seductively confrontational practice.*
Robin Rice is an adjunct associate professor at
the University o f the Arts, where she has taught
craft history.
Adelaide Paid takes what is in essence a flayed
anim al and further deconstructs it by altering
it in some unmistakable way.
june/julyio american craft 033
www.WorldMags.net & www.Journal-Plaza.net
