#HTE

Fleshy Art For Freaky People

Over the last few months we’ve seen headlines trumpeting breakthroughs in skin-related technologies like 3D printed nose cartilage and lab grown muscles. If those make you feel like you’re living on the cusp of a biofuturist hell world, check out the sculptures of Sarah Sitkin, an artist whose work might prove you really are.

Be warned–if prosthetics and disembodied body parts freak you out, this line should probably be your last stop, because Sitkin’s work is heavily limbed and heartily creepy. It’s also shockingly beautiful. 

From the current Trifling Matter show at LA’s Superchief Gallery

She works in a range of materials including silicone, wax, and resin. The subjects also range, but there is a through line of skin, deformity, and disconcertingly lifelike forms. She documents the pieces in stunning photos that feel like still lifes and portraits. 

iPhone case originally for 

While the result can feel ominous or even repulsive, the overall tone is serene. The familiar, intimate, fleshy textures and uncomfortable arrangements are plainly intriguing, and hint at a world even more confusing than our own.

The materials in play are often so deftly used they’re impossible to identify. Both the arrangements and their presentation and lighting conjure potent, believable scenarios. If you’re anything like me you’ll wish you could touch most of them.

In a recent conversation with LA Weekly, she referred to her use of traditionally grotesque elements of the body (her own particularly) as a subject, noting, “I’m perpetually fascinated by how shitty the human design is." 

Poorly made tools are a inspiration most designers can relate to, but few aim to create more questions than they started with.

If you’re in southern California this month, her first solo show Trifling Matter runs through Saturday, July 30 at Superchief Gallery. Contact the gallery for viewing hours. 

If you aren’t, you can see more of Sitkin’s sporadic and invariably impressive work on her site and on Instagram. Small skin patches and not small sculptures are available for purchase through the gallery store.

All photos by Sarah Sitkin.