The ceramic objects glint with pewter glaze, each one nestled in a felt and satin-ribbon wall of boxes and bows, all pinky and orangy make-up colors.
The staging is like the oooh la la windows almost good enough to eat displays I pass all the time at Douglas, where items like tubes of lipstick and grooming brushes are transformed into gotta-have glamor.
With Christmas just around the corner, ’tis the season for this installation, which raises questions about value, luxury, self-ornamentation, commerce, and sex appeal. Perhaps the questions are not much of a surprise; but in this case, the medium is indeed the message.
Raphael, who has had apprenticeships at both the Fabric Workshop and Museum and Kohler, is a 2004 MFA from Cranbook in ceramics.
Shop local, shop artists this holiday season, a short list
Memento Mori, A trip through skulls, Sotheby’s, shot glasses and soap
The quintessence of collaboration – Damon Kowarsky and Atif Khan in Hybrid at Twelve Gates Arts