San Francisco
With a sweetly acerbic humor, Libby Black’s work navigates the roiled waters of desire and consumption as experienced through the filters of feminism, lesbian culture, and the great American obsession with self-help—and its frequent traveling companion, addiction. Well over a decade ago, Black began creating paper-and-paint sculptures that replicate high-end luxury goods: Kate Spade shoes, Louis Vuitton bags, even things as large as a Mercedes. Later, she segued into even more interesting territory when she began generating an imaginary world in which things like workout equipment improbably bear the trademark colors and immediately recognizable logos of luxury brands (a Burberry punching bag, a Chanel weight belt, a Prada stationary bike). Black is as much a painter as she is a sculptor, if labels must be applied to a practice, and her recent show included both objects and images. …see the entire review in the print version of October’s Sculpture magazine.
