Artist Statement

Rachel Dorn’s brightly colored abstract ceramic sculptures are surreal interpretations of the biological world, supported or enhanced by mechanical prosthetics. The ceramic forms suggest sea cucumbers, seedpods or flowers, and highlight some of the startling diversity of form and function in the biological world. These organic forms are juxtaposed with sharp metal gears, chains, and rigid crank arms of the mechanical realm.

In the imaginary, science fiction world of these strange botanicals, the abstract, vaguely familiar plant forms are supported, protected, or decorated by artificial, mechanical prosthetics. These additions are meant to stand-in for the organic structure as more rigid and durable support or defense.

In the real world, biotechnological innovations have accelerated the evolutionary process, at times outpacing human understanding or control of the changes. In these sculptures, the artist imagines a world in which biological engineering and man-made prosthetics merge to create plant forms with sometimes beautiful, sometimes unwieldy mechanical alterations.