3D shapes with an apex
- Pecious Metal, at Newark Museum 2014
- exhibiting artist Dahliya Elsayed gazes on at the Precious Metal in Newark Museum
- Look Fizzy, sculpture at Eye for an Eye Exhibit
- Look Fizzy, mixed media painting, 36×36 inches
- Fizzy Dreams in Percentages at Maud Morgan Art Center, Cambridge, MA
- Fizzy Dreams in Percentages
- Fizzy Dreams at George Segal Gallery
- Jamini’s Kitty, 2013 mixed media on canvas
- Jamini’s Kitty Clowder
Swimming in Data Smog, in an attempt to clutch on to that single straw of self-recognition, I maneuvered my way through the process of self-expression, swinging sharply between knowledge and a bewildering unknown. The construction cone struck me because, functionally it demarcates space, commanding a presence of its own. The 3D shape lends a display opportunity with an underlying meaning of its own.
My first work with the construction cone was Precious Metal. Curator Schlomit Dror, then at the Newark Museum, wrote:
“Tania Sen’s sculpture Precious Metal (2014) is made out of an orange cone …In this work Sen alludes to consumer culture by borrowing text that is similar in texture, form and color to the iconic Coca-Cola logo from the world of advertising. She alter the words, however, to “Shared Wealth”. The gold paint coating the traffic cone, a universally recognized object like the Coca-Cola beverage, suggest the risky outcome veneration of consumer culture may impose on notions of value and corporate wealth.”
Well the Coca Cola logo letters originating in Fizzy Dreams has come a long way since then, the cone itself took its own journey. Still remember the words of the doorman at the museum, not inscribed anywhere were, “What’s this? Merlin’s Hat?” At the time I laughed, today I wish it was…
Very recently when a teenager practiced her parallel parking using some of the unpainted cones that were stashed in my garage, I decided to take a fresh look at them once again.
Look Fizzy, translated into a tattoo design in the shape of a cone. At a time when I was obsessing over Jamini Roy’s elegant simplicity, his cats with human eyes were what appealed to me the most! I got Mona Lisa to cuddle one of his kitties, and put a clowder of Jamini Roy kitties on my cone Fizzy Dreams in Percentages translated into a ceiling hung giant exclamation mark!