Anna Showers-Cruser

The Hardest Thing To Tell A Sad Boi (2017)
wood, fabric, clay, sodium silicate, wire, synthetic thread, petroleum jelly, pigment
40 x 28 x 14 in.

I invite the viewer to spend time in a space where DIY craft processes and surfaces celebrate difference and create space for the in-between. Commonly stemming from an initial investigation in ink drawing, each of my works have a foot in multiple making traditions. Painted textiles come off the wall and mutate from the familiarity of the 2D space to the sculptural, drawing on both the pictorial and the haptic. The work reframes and digests images to allude to bodily adornment and gesture (burlesque costume, drag, sex toys) while taking on anthropomorphism, as forms may vibrate, appear to ooze, or have a particular scent. Making the work then feels like assembling a family of forms, each with their own internal logic and gender, but sharing a formal lexicon. What is at stake with the tactility of the work is the belief that a handmade gesture may embody radical potential, and that abstract form holds potential for community building.