Brandy Wolfe: STUFFED

March 8 – April 6, 2010

Brandy Wolfe, The Problem of Acknowledgement, thrift store sheets, thread, fiberfill, mannequin

Brandy Wolfe, The Problem of Acknowledgement, detail, thrift store sheets, thread, fiberfill, mannequin

Brandy Wolfe , What If They Eat My Face Off?, detail, found ceramic cats, fabric, thread

Most children have a favorite stuffed animal or doll who goes everywhere with them. But most of these toys are made in a factory, and exist not as individuals but in piles of disposable merchandise. Brandy Wolfe has created an illusion of this reality by sewing eyeless stuffed animals based on the animal that the child holds in the photo. She piles the toys on the floor beneath each photo, thereby challenging the idea that they are special. The animals appear less artistic in a pile suggesting they were made in mass quantities rather than the carefully crafted piece that each one actually is.

In the photos the stuffed animals have life, they are special. Her installation evokes questions of what gives an object meaning. Everyone possesses articles that are important to them, however most of these things were made by a machine and were purchased in a store. What has made them important, what has brought them to life?

Brandy Wolfe currently resides in Boston MA, and was born in San Antonio, TX. Wolfe received her BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2001 and her MA in art history from Ohio State University in 2005. Her work has been included in many exhibitions, in Ohio and elsewhere.