Cat Kaufman
I love to blend found objects with other materials like paper, plaster, and wax. I seldom buy materials, preferring the challenge of creating with only the materials I have been gifted by my community. Arriving at my studio to find boxes filled with ephemera: old maps, books, twisted metal, computer parts, bird’s eggs, doll eyes, globes, even mannequins. I begin with one object, adding and subtracting materials until the composition speaks to me.
My artistic goal is to evoke an emotional response from viewers - positive or negative - in whatever for it may come. I’ve had people cringe and walk out of a show after viewing pieces such as Persona, a full crib-sized mattress inserted with tiny wire and paper doll head forms. I challenge viewers to look at the piece as metaphor, the tiny faces represent the aspects of our character that is presented or perceived by others - the “masks” we all wear in our lives. Metaphor is a constant in my art.
It is this kind of metaphoric and narrative play that I love to portray. Many touching on the themes of life and death. In Requiem, the theme of music and death are side by side with a human skeletal diagram spanning the length of an old organ’s pull stops. Hidden crevices contain a small red velvet box secreting the bones of a small lizard, a cast iron mouse, a large egg, keys, and clocks, all lending to the theme.
As I discover new artists, their techniques inspire me to play with materials in new ways.
