I am an artist who primarily makes performances, videos and sculptures that feature my own body in varied ways. I want to make artwork that magnifies elements of contemporary life that seem absurd to me and I often approach my work as an alien visitor attempting to participate seamlessly in contemporary life, but not quite managing. I am particularly interested in gender performativity, sexual politics, consumer desire and the slippery overlaps between these. 

When I began making performances and videos I exclusively interacted with found everyday objects and garments, purposely misusing them to create chain reactions that achieved simple or pointless tasks in overly complicated ways. For example, In ‘Auto Erotic Assimilation’  I used power tools with kitchen items to apply make-up and play out a deadpan burlesque routine. My more recent works have combined this fascination for finding alternative functions for appliances and gadgets with sewn soft-sculptures that act as avatars for my body. I am particularly drawn to items that imply a desire for self optimisation such as exercise equipment or domestic gizmos. There is also generally a sexualised element to the way objects are used (either by myself or the sculptures) and I often approach my works as perverse product demonstrations or adverts where the term ‘sex sells’ is taken excessively literally. 

In the series and exhibition ‘Soft Girls’ I developed a visual language for the sculptures which draws from anatomical models and horror films. Like most of my sculptures these could be repurposed as clothing or animated as puppets. I continue to be fascinated by grotesque depictions of the abject body and the way that remaking these in fabric changes their digestibility. I also take inspiration from toys and cartoons, combining these references with versions of sexualised parts of the body and fetish-adjacent accessories.  In general I hope that my work can swing between uncomfortable and pleasurable. My studio practice feels like a constant search for this magic balance. 

‘The New Me’ is a recent video project based around my fictional dystopian company ‘The Ilium Corporation’ that sells ‘absurd life-enhancing products’ (Charlotte Kent). Designed to represent the continual pressures to maintain our homes, bodies and relationships; the three ‘products’ are Frankensteined together from existing items and demonstrated by me in retro-futurist style adverts. I hope that this project can continue throughout my career as I invent new hybrid machines. This series also centres around my fascination with ‘cute’ aesthetics as a marketing strategy in which the consumer becomes ‘mother’ to the items they buy. 

My most recent BODY of work ‘Planned Obsolescence’ takes the domestic printer as the starting point to think about the aspirations and limits of technology. It involves a series of sculptural, digital and paper self portraits alongside a performance where I take the role of a bored office worker photocopying my body parts. I imagine myself becoming a low-tech cyborg through this process.

Please get in touch if you would like to arrange a phone call or visit. I’m based in London and my studio is in Covent Garden.

Contact:

rosiegibbens1@gmail.com

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