Paige Bradley

Focusing on tensions and liberations in my work,

I feel most of our emotions are locked into a

existential cocoon. My sculptures show the human

race as a singular individual searching for connection

but finding only alienation.

My recent work has become a symbol of struggle --

both being contained and liberating ourselves from 

self-inflicted boundaries. Fears of ostracism, avoiding

distinction and hiding from greatness are all thoughts

that come to mind. These fears create sculptures

wrapped in extraordinary tension. The figures

struggle to unveil themselves in order to become

understood and known. These bound figures give

me a sense of unrest as if too much life is jammed into

too restrictive of space. I feel as if I am trying to live

my truth free and unveiled in a society that would

rather keep us contained.

From the moment we are born, the world tends to have a container already built for us to fit inside: a social security number, a gender, a race, a profession, an I.Q. I ponder if we are more defined by the container we are in than what we are inside. Would we recognize ourselves if we could expand beyond our bodies?

Would we still be able to exist if we are authentically "un-contained"?

I attempt to expand my sculptures beyond the human flesh of the figure and create the brilliance within us. Simultaneously, I cannot help but to see a dangerous dichotomy between falling apart and expanding beyond our limitations. When devastation becomes deliverance, ashes from the past can become the foundations of the future.