Exhibit Statement

Peering into the Plaster Cast Collection room is one of my first memories at Fairfield University. I dreamed that one day I would get to use them as references for my drawings. The years came and went and finally, my last semester here, I found myself exploring the space. Here was a room that housed casts of ancient sculptures and I was intrigued. I kept thinking about how to incorporate these artifacts into my capstone exhibition. I wanted to bring my dreams full circle, into a tangible reality. We are so far removed from this time period in human history; is there a way to integrate ourselves with the figures who represent Antiquity? I decided I could do that by re-contextualizing these objects of the past into an imagined 21st century environment by integrating a series of contemporary drawings with them. My main inspiration for conceptualizing this collection of drawings comes from Jeff Koons’ Gazing Ball Sculptures exhibition. By putting a reflective ball on an ancient sculpture, he managed to allow people to see themselves reflected in the art itself. As a source for my drawings, I enlisted the help of close friends and family, all of whom have connections to the art and art history worlds in some way. I also opted to create my drawings on circular paper, as a nod to Koon’s reflective spheres. The juxtaposition of a drawing of a modern human face being held by an ancient sculpture suggests a gazing into the past emanating from the drawings; an imagined gazing into the future for the cast sculptures; or even a fantasized conversation between the two.