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"The Exile and the Manitcore", 2008
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"Fancy Rattus II", 2006
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"The Exile and The Deer" (front and back) 2008 25" x 12" x11"
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"The Exile and the Rabbit" (front and side) 2009 17" x 8" x 8"
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"The Exile and the Manticore II", 2008 13" x 12" x 5"
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Tricia Cline's porcelain sculptures explore the relatedness, indeed the oneness, of man and animal. In this sense she shares not only a technical similarity, but a common purpose with the work of sculptor Kate McDowell. In her artist statement she writes, "The language of animals is the language of images. An image is not an idea with a defined meaning, it is itself an animal." We humans tend to put our ideas of things in front of the the thing itself, a mental hierarchy that gets in the way of real perception. But since I have been using this blog to practice writing and thinking about art (and that sometimes leads to interpretation), I'll plunge on heedless of good advice. What strikes me as especially interesting is the echoes of ancient art in her work. Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian and Indian imagery spring to mind. But perhaps this is not so surprising given her aims. Peoples of the ancient world no doubt felt a far more visceral connection to the natural world than our technologically modern selves. Their portrayal of the human and the animal co-mingling and mixing together was used to convey a mythology of deep connection to the world of natural phenomena upon which their lives daily depended. Even her title for this series, "The Children of Lower Exile" has about it a hint of archaeology and mythology.
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