foam, epoxy clay, gold leaf, pig intestine
The sculptures of Eulogia allude to living forms, simultaneously uninhibited and restrained, undulating and burgeoning with life despite binding skins. Industrial and commercial food materials are transformed into small strange forms and process follows concept—they are created by stuffing foam and clay into balloons and condoms and pushing that to the breaking point, until release comes in the form of ooze and drip. The forms seem familiar yet alien—sometimes sensuous, sometimes unnerving—pulsing beneath gossamer skins. What we value directly relies on our cultural conditioning and the method by which something is presented to us. Mystery and the sacred are intertwined and provocative... What do you worship?
"The dozen or so figures in Mary Skrenta's Eulogia twist and plop like shapeless living matter, but are topped by dabs of gold leaf. The figures invoke the paintings of the French surrealist Yves Tanguy, who populated bleak spaces with shapes that alternated between spindly and bulbous. The lumps and tendrils of Eulogia are shaped out of foam and epoxy clay, but feature gossamer shrouds made from pig intestines. The translucence of the gossamer creates an otherworldly effect, which is appropriate—the Greek word eulogia refers to holy objects. So it is tempting to think of the spots of gold leaf as little halos, and the figurines themselves as fetishes for half-formed gods."
~Joseph Clark, Thinking Big With Small Pieces: After The Pedestal at The Sculpture Center, CAN Journal, summer 2017