MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS | VORARLBERG MUSEUM, BREGENZ

Monika Grabuschnigg, Bubbleshooter, 2016. Glazed Earthenware, gold luster and resin, 104 x 46 x 31 cm

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MONIKA GRABUSCHNIGG
Bio: Austrian, b. 1987
Title: Bubbleshooter, 2016
Medium: Glazed Earthenware, gold luster and resin
Size: 104 x 46 x 31 cm
Acquired by: Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz
Artist represented by: Carbon 12, Dubai
Acquisition date: 2018

The sculpture riffs off Afghan War Rugs—carpets into which were woven imagery of warfare, from grenades to rockets, during the 1980s Soviet occupation of reigning geopolitical turmoil, the rugs became valuable, hype-driven commodities, eventually landing in the art market 20 years later. The sculptures, far from a literal translation of the imagery in the rugs, are busy, opulent, almost saccharine in their colours, enticing the viewer into twirls of seduction and violence. Fleshy shapes, echoes of weaponry, pop cultural allusions and decorative motifs are pieced together following a particular grammar, forming fetish-worthy statues that gleam in sugary glazes of blue, pink and gold. Poised like a forest of stately Hapsburgian trophies, the works nonetheless pack an acid, critical sting, stabbing at our fetish-driven consumer society, cultural voyeurism and the link between artwork and consumer commodity.

Photo: Asaf Oren
Copyright: The Artist
Courtesy of Carbon 12
Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz

A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #55

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