The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 34

is not true of Cynthia Consentino, Judy Fox, Jan Holcomb,
and Beth Cavener. Here the relationship between ceramics
and painting is actual, the surface is covered with acrylic,
casein, and oil paint. What this does is neutralize the
ceramic presence; it works, literally, undercover. To a viewer

Judy Fox, Saturn's Son, 1991.

the work could be of plaster, painted bronze or Durastone
(Fox actually casts some of her works in the latter material).
It does not obviously invoke the “Gods of Fire.” Indeed with
all of these artists the matte surface is soft and invitingly cool.

Saturn’s Son, as with many of Fox’s sculptures, is connected
to mythology and legendary figures, both long past and

This makes the choice of the medium private to the artist.

recent. Jemm, son of Saturn, is a DC Comic superhero

Each chooses to work with clay to create form because of

and the monarch ruler of Saturn. One of his superpowers

its superb modeling qualities. For the size of the artworks,

is flight, so we can assume that this fall will not end

plaster would be too difficult. For Fox, clay is a matter of

badly. Lakshmi (1999) is the Hindu goddess of wealth

pragmatism. For Cavener it holds deeper meaning.

and, married well, she is the wife of Vishnu. Because

Consentino’s girl vomits up flowers in Flower Girl (2004)
and this floor installation of figure and blooms has a rich,
painterly quality as though its protagonist had stepped out
of a canvas.
Fox’s babies and prepubescent girls are similar; they live
on a cusp between painting and reality. In their charged
innocence they recall the paintings of Balthus, depicting girls
on the eve of womanhood. There is nothing prurient in this

the figure is in a dance position it is reasonable to
assume that Fox is also channeling the great exponent
of traditional Indian dance, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy.
Attila (1996) poses the famed conqueror and ruler
of the Huns as a boy adopting a martial arts stance.
Attila became the most feared enemy of the Western
and Eastern Roman Empire. Yet, here his youth makes
him seem vulnerable, charming, and boyish.

work; it captures a moment of beauty between child and

Rapunzel (1998), evoking the German fairy tale, is one

woma n. Each is frozen in a shutter-click of mid-action, most

of Fox’s finest works. Rapunzel grows up as the most

dramatically in Saturn’s Son (1991), a baby falling from a ledge.

beautiful girl in the world, but is shut away in a tower.

Fox has a deep knowledge, understanding, and
facility with the classical figure. This provided an
anchor when, after ten years of art study, she turned
up in 1986 on the East Village art scene and quickly

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became a leading player in the new figuration.

She falls in love with a prince who manages to reach
her by climbing the “golden stair,” her long braided
hair. Fox creates two conical tiers of hair that work
brilliantly as sculptural counterpoints of the figure.