Caito Stewart
I Hoard Mementos, and You Hoard Bananas (2019)
cast hydrocal plaster, paint, epoxy, cabinet, banana hangers
37 x 24 x 9 in.
$10,000
Houses and food represent our basic, essential needs: shelter and sustenance. Yet, both are impermanent, subject to destruction and decay. I make sculptures of domestic ruins and food, which mirror the cycle of life and death.
Some objects I cast in transparent resin, bestowing them with an ephemeral quality. Others I hand-build in clay or cast in plaster, painting them to look real. Everything is frozen in a state of half-decay or disappearance. I exert my control over them, removing their functions, enacting boundaries, and containing them in boxes.
Creating these reliquaries and memorials allows me to explore my relationship to objects, and how they help me understand and preserve elements of my past, while coping with the uncanny discomfort involved in accepting various life changes, losses, and deaths. My sculptures also mimic my dreams and memories in the way they seem so real, but are partly fiction. Over the years, pieces of my memories have been omitted, added, or rewritten. I acknowledge the absurdity of trying to pin them down and take control.
© Caito Stewart