In a practice she describes as “ceramic collage,” Debra Broz delves into the world of secondhand decor and kitsch. The Seattle-based artist’s quirky sculptures are made from found figurines, which she cuts and reconfigures into playful hybrid forms. “A lot of times when I look at them, I think about if they were alive, how would they move and how would they operate?” Broz tells Seattle Channel.
In her ongoing series Superorganisms, the artist creates three-dimensional assemblages that toy with the boundary between familiarity and the uncanny. “It’s really important to me that you look at it and your first thought is, ‘That’s a figurine I’ve seen before,’” she says. “And then your second thought is, ‘Wait, that’s something I’ve never seen before.’”
Broz often finds thematic figurines to work into larger compositions, building a jumbled mound of cats, for example, or all-white horses or rabbits. Overall, the finishes and junctions between individual creatures appear natural enough that one might think they were created that way. In the same vein, that precision works wonders in her adjacent conservation practice called Science of Restoration, which specializes in ceramics repair.
Three numbered works all sharing the title “Biblical Angel” will be on view this weekend in Antler Gallery’s booth at the Seattle Art Fair, which runs from July 23 to 26. See more of the artist’s process below in the video produced for Seattle Channel.
