monday morning eye candy: Thaddeus Erdahl
When considering the murky reservoir of human history, it is
difficult to separate legend from reality. Through my work, I examine
human myth in the modern age, specifically on characters that emerge
from our society’s underbelly; the less popular folk. Using their
“legends”, I feel compelled to tell stories that illustrate analogies in
life; blending together archetypes, shared experiences, and my own
personal mythology. Who we are in the world is a kaleidoscope of
interpretations, biased memories, and personal connections.
Ceramic sculpture and portraiture, in particular, are
forms of a visual narration that I use to satisfy my urge for
documenting what I see in human nature. Evocative of well-loved toys and
obsolete artifacts, I use the implied history of these objects to
encourage the viewer to disconnect from the present situation and
conjure their own individual narratives from my sculptures.
Working with concepts that are personal and sometimes
narcissistic perceptions of the gloomy side of life, dark humor is my
buffer. Dry or irreverent, it is humor that mystifies the tragic. – Thaddeus Erdahl
