Perceived Happiness as the Ultimate Revenge
3’ x 21’ x 18’
Auto paint, fiberglass, epoxy resin, foam, 3D printed plastic, epoxy putty, tubes, fountain pumps, steel, concrete
2019
2019 FSP/Jerome Fellow
Artist Statement
A larger-than-life biocyborg female form morphs into a contorted bunch of celery, her body flattened onto the concrete pedestal in the center of the large oval basin. Her bunch of stalks is protectively hunched around a creased pillow; did she just wake up? Her posture is one of grief, uncertainty, vulnerability, or intimacy- she is decumbent and splayed. Belly down and exposed, she is well below eye level- it is necessary to crouch down to peer through her twisting stems and leaves. Water drips down her leaves and squirts out from the ends of her stalks as she cries into the basin. Two stalks branch off of each side of the central core, synonymous to arms that are spread and flung out with elbows to the side. She is a luminescent pale lilac, the color modulating with the sun. This sculpture is frozen in a moment of tension, exuding both the wilting listlessness of despair and a confused radiation of bestrewn sexuality.
Made with a combination of digital fabrication and traditional hand sculpting techniques, the body of the form is a 3D scan that was then CNC routed out of foam and coated with fiberglass and epoxy resin. The celery components are a conglomeration of over 60 3D prints coated with epoxy putty and sanded smooth before the entirety of the form was
coated in auto paint. This sculpture is an exciting continuation of Lawrence’s biomorphic body and plant forms, described as both charmingly perverse and beguilingly disconcerting.
Dedicated to the memory of fellow sculptor and dear friend Devra Freelander
Gracelee Lawrence
@gleeleelawlee
Born: Sanford, NC, USA, 1989
Resides: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Education
MFA, University of Texas – Austin, 2016
BA, Guilford College, 2011