Sahara Gray

Christa Mares at Cactus Bra

Christa Mares has developed a visual language from human anatomy and cultural signifiers similar to that of Richard Notkin, although where his work is hyperrealistic and overtly political, hers is whimsically suggestive. In her new sculptural ceramic exhibit at Cactus Bra, Mares spins a web of imagery connecting social mores to a visceral understanding of the body and its relationship with pottery and the home. By forming several of her vessels to resemble internal organs, Mares invites the viewer to draw associations between the human body and ceramic utensils. This analogy can work in both directions: the stomach, and the body in general, can be seen as a container for food or energy; at the same time, ceramic dishes can be understood as participants in a transformational process, rather than as static forms. The teapot makes the tea, but it also retains the residue of the tea, which becomes in some sense part of the pot. To reinforce the idea of movement, Mares attaches feet which appear to be in mid-step to the bottom of the vessels. The feet also remind us that traditionally, the potter’s vocabulary draws heavily from human anatomy (the foot of the bowl, the mouth of the vase, etc).

The artist augments the analogy of body and vessel with a strong sense of domesticity. Several of the organ-like vessels contain drawers or doors, making one seem like a wardrobe, another like an antiquated stove. Kitchenette, the piece resembling a stove, is lined along the upper rim with dollhouse sized ceramic cups and saucers, while a blood-red glaze flows out of the chimney, onto the dishes and down the side of the sculpture. In this piece we can see most clearly an intersection of functional ceramic work, internal human anatomy, and the setting of the home.

The domestic theme is carried further through The Primroses Were Over, a ceramic crib, and in the depiction of sewing implements in Pain Less Motion. A primrose pattern adorning the crib (also found on Pain Less Motion) calls to mind generic floral fabric patterns. It is also worth noting that primrose tea is a common folk remedy for insomnia and anxiety. The crib is filled with unglazed miniatures, ranging from teacups to pagodas, from faces to birds. The arrangement is haphazard, and some of the pieces are broken, giving the sense of an attic full of forgotten relics. The juxtaposition between youth and age, hopes and memories, is striking in this piece.

However contradictory these ideas may seem, the connection between them reveals much about Mares’ work. A child still constructing meaning from experience has a dreamlike looseness about her interpretation of objects that to adults have rigid connotations. As the aged approach senility, a similar looseness emerges from the weight of crumbling memories. In both cases, symbolism is fluid and inhibitions vanish. Mares has captured this state of mind with an expansive, nimble, and yet workable vocabulary that draws an emotional response while exciting the intellect.