Kitty Wales
Born, 1957, Boston, MA, lives and works Wrentham, MA
Sheep’s Clothing, 2006, installation at Art Institute of Boston, Lesley University, steel and sweaters, 10’ x 7’ x 6’, Made possible by a Grant from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation
For the past fifteen years, Kitty Wales has created sculpture based on her direct observations of the animal world and the transformation of her visual and emotional memories into immersive environments. Using the detritus of everyday life as the material for her installations—such as old sweaters, discarded tires, or mismatched silverware—Wales alters the gallery setting in surprising ways to create an emotional and psychological context for her animal sculptures and landscapes.
Canis Ex Machina provides an intimate look at a domesticated animal, the artist’s dog Tucker. Attached to a mountain of black and white sweaters, Tucker appears to be in charge of a machine that unravels the sweaters to make incarnations of the same dog over and over, alike but different. These new creations are clearly dependent on people, or rather the remnants of our clothing, but also self-reliant as they run their own cloning machine. Echoing distinct anxieties about genetic manipulation and animal breeding, the installation is fraught with ambiguity. The dogs are frozen in postures that are both menacing and playful and it is unclear whether they are waiting for a viewer to approach or leave so they can resume their business. In this, Wales reminds us of the complex impact human beings have on nature even in their absence.
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