Chris Boger

Recipient of the Evelyn Shapiro Foundation award for her highly distinctive works in ceramics, Chris Boger’s ornate figurative works are, in essence, subtle allegories of psychological conflict. She uses a variety of art historical sources, most notably the ceramic figurine, to reflect on the timeless struggle between personal desire and wider socio-political agendas.

At first glance comfortably conformist, her figures hint at an underlying human nature that is at odds with every effort of societal and self-control.

As the artist states:
The most overt ceramic reference I make is to the figurine, a form closely associated with decoration, domesticity and display. In choosing this form my intent is to represent a contemporary subject directly shaped by its cultural heritage. The “figure-as-figurine” is diminished in a way that is as much psychological as physical – its purpose is to fit in, coordinate, flatter, support and seduce.

Many elements of the modern history of ceramics can be interpreted in metaphoric terms of control: in the ceremonial presentation of food (wealth) and its ordered and polite consumption; in the small domestic prerogatives of women and an associated sexual commodification; in the fetishistic nature of collecting and acquisition. Figural image making is also uniquely subject to social and political manipulation.

At the same time, my figures hint as a barely restrained nature that is at odds with every effort at societal (and self) control. Traditional “china” patterns that read as social marks or tattoos can also be seen as sexually alluring garments. Poses that at first seem to be in almost classical repose at second glance reveal gestures frozen somewhere between the act of concealment and flagrant self display. Are the suggestively placed gold embellishments meant to imply a Midas’ touch or a courtesan’s proposition? These are figures that appear to be caught in a narcissistic loop, a system of desire in which the kept and the keeper, object and objectifier have become indistinguishable. I often include imagery drawn from the intricate and wild natural world, so that my figures wear the signs of both their enculturation and their nature. They are products of accumulated power, comfort, and domesticity, and at the same time reflect a human nature that is ultimately still undiminished and unrestrained.