Bobbi Meier
Sunday Dinners (extrovert & buttoned-up), 2019
Pantyhose, fiberfill, spandex, repurposed tapestry from a dear friend, on stretched canvas. Each piece 24" x 18"
Buttoned-up/Extrovert is part of a series of fiber-based “portraits” I have been making for several years. Vintage needlepoint chair coverings were given to me by a dear friend who was gravely ill. Wrapping the inverted tapestries on oval canvases in my studio, I am reminded of cameos and portraits of long-passed relatives and family gatherings where emotions run high and personalities clash. Manipulating sexually loaded materials—spandex and pantyhose, bits of lace and gel medium—provocative forms question viewers’ perceptions. Organic shapes allude to creases and folds of the body. A dichotomy of seduction and revulsion exists, where fragments are re-constructed to become assemblages of grotesque beauty. Hand-sewn production is simultaneously an act of aggression, catharsis, and a remembrance of surgeries, illnesses and my role as a caregiver.
Bobbi Meier
Easy Chair/Failed Odalisque, 2017
Reconstructed chaise lounge Fiberfill, pantyhose, spandex. Approx. 49.5" x 43" x 53"
An assemblage of soft and hard materials, this sculpture is like a body, and becomes the foil for my sadness and frustration over my dear friend’s illness and our inept medical system. I transform the structure into struggling human forms of bulbous shapes emerging from its original purpose to provide comfort. Stretching, pulling, impaling the object, it is transformed into a new hybrid of comfort and discomfort, simultaneously falling apart and exuding strength. Precarious and awkwardly constructed it elicits messages of hope and hopelessness.
Bobbi Meier
Pile-up at The Gates of Hell, 2016
Thrifted wood chairs, fiberfill, pantyhose, children’s toys. Approx. 72” x 48” x 48”
Channeling Auguste Rodin, thinking about his Gates of Hell, writhing bodies, and the culture of disco dancing in the 1970's this work evolved from small soft sculptures into a monumental abstract form.
