Reception for the artist: Saturday February 15, 2025, 3-5 pm.
Beyond Baroque is at 681 N. Venice Blvd, Venice CA 90291. Gallery & Bookstore are open Fridays & Saturdays from 12 - 6 p.m. and Wednesdays & Thursdays 2 - 6 p.m. by appointment. For appointments call Ph: 310-822-3006.

Proxy Gallery is happy to present Phyllis Green’s “June 2024.” For those that haven’t met her, the sculptural representation on the outer “walls” of this work is one of her own face and hair. Modeled from earthenware clay and colored with copper metallic surfacer and patina, the work nods to conventional busts and traditional techniques such as conical holes for the pupils of the eyes and stylized hair. The realistic representation of the head stops under the chin. What looks like a neck is a clay cylinder that functions as the base of the sculpture. The representation is neither flattering nor unfavorable, (though the sculpture IS literally presented on a pedestal.) The pedestal as sculptural base implies that any statue on a pedestal is by default made important, but its subject not necessarily beautified. Instead, it is assigned gravitas in the way that Holbein’s 16th century portrait of Erasmus has gravitas and thoughtfulness. Moreover, because of the face, this sculptural “selfie” has definite frontality and so is placed against a wall “facing” the viewer.
The head ends abruptly in a horizontal cut all around the crown, through which one can see the empty space inside. I see this as Green’s acknowledgement of the history of ceramics as containers and of the ambiguity of whether this is a decorated vase, or a sculpture that does not wish to conceal the empty space within, necessary for the firing process.
Over the years Green has presented clothing without bodies, i.e. costumes for a constructed persona, hair without heads, boobs without torsos, masks without faces. It is as if the revelation of something is much less meaningful for her than the revelation of something not there. This is another way to say that form is singularly foregrounded in her sculptures.
As a feminist artist Green’s work has been called humorous, witty, playful (but not a toy,) ironic, tongue-in-cheek, funny (but not a joke,) comedic (but not just entertaining.) As we peer inside to see what’s in the head, we are invited to think about identity and its manufacturing, and, paradoxically, we are urged to stay on the surface and not try to find something deep inside.
Annetta Kapon for Proxy Gallery
Photo credit: Ave Pildas