Knitted Sculptures - Reina Mia Brill

I fell in love with Reina's work a few years ago after seeing an article about her. Hauntingly friendly, colorfully macabre with a dash of what the hell is going on. Please enjoy the work of Reina Mia Brill. Reina has been making creature sculptures that live in a children’s world. Reina’s creations are part animal and part human, their lives are filled with mischief, insecurity, fears, and curiosity. Their story begins as a lump of clay which is slowly formed through my fingertips. After being bisque fired, colorful underglazes are painted on the surface. Once all the firing is finished, she pauses, change pace and step back in time. Sitting down with my 1920’s and 1960’s knitting machines Reina decides how to transform the glazed surface with an unexpected texture, knitted wire. Colorful wire mesh is stretched and sewn over the hard clay surface for the actual skins and garments for the creatures. These old mechanical machines are truly precious. She loves using them for a renewed purpose, which adds to the story and fabled world where my creatures reside.

Reina Mia Brill currently lives and works in a remote section of the Bronx called City Island where the nature-filled surroundings are inspiring a new generation of creatures. Please visit Reina's Website: www.reinamiabrill.com

Robert Bradford's sculptures are made from toys, lots and lots of toysFor a long time now Robert has preferred to use materials that are not bland i.e. have some kind of history of weathering or use. One day about four years ago out in the studio he was looking into my children's box of outgrown/discarded toys which happened to be stored in the same building and responded to the random collection of colors shapes and forms they made. Robert figured that if he could find a way of putting them together to constitute a larger form they would have great potential as larger scale sculpture.Over the next while Robert experimented with two other construction methods (which both had their downsides) - before one day about a year ago in frustration he tried putting a screw through one toy and then many others. To his surprise most didn’t crack or shatter and the new series has been largely based around and developed from that fact.
In a way the sculptures are also history pieces in the sense that you could date any one of them roughly speaking from the time that the last toy screwed on to the structure was produced.
Check out Roberts website at:
http://www.robertbradford.co.uk/