melbourne AUSTRALIA

suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
Troy EMERY: This work explores animals as decorative objects as well as the aesthetics of trophy animals and plush toys.

Troy Emery uses materials such as pompoms, tassels, tinsel, and yarn in pieces that intentionally confuse traditional sculpture with handicrafts.
These awkward materials are beautiful, colourful and alluring and can be overwhelming when used in excess, creating an attraction / repulsion dynamic to the work. This dynamic has a relationship to my interest in animals and animal forms, like those that might be cute and cuddly but simultaneously dangerous and sinister.
The role of surface and colour in the production of these sculptures is an exaggeration of the qualities sought after in exotic wildlife. The luscious textile pelt is a camp interpretation of the way skins and furs are cherished and fetishised. As natural specimens or species, my animal sculptures are impossible combinations of form, colour, and materials. They can only exist as hypothetical or mythological animals. These fluffy colourful forms are dream-like monsters that reference my childhood stuffed toys and my interest in the anthropological animal artefacts in museums and natural history collections.

Find out more at: www.troyemery.net