Mateas Pares: Could you tell me a little bit about the background of the sculpture?
Amanda Monceau: All my sculptures are based on forms from the inside of the body, more specifically internal organs. I create them in yarn, ceramics or a combination of both. In Pleurae, I’ve used the punch needle technique. It’s a slow and tenacious process. The loops of yarn can be seen as individual dots and yet they form a whole that possesses an almost intrusive materiality. Textile material has traditionally been used to create functional and decorative objects. Pleurae take the form of a set of lungs as well as a decorative object, an ornament, or a vase. I do this partly to remove the focus from the outside of the body, which already functions as an ornament in this shitty day and age. I want to question those bodily ideals that transform the identity of the self into the objectification of the body. Turning this bodily focus into an absurdity I want to blur the line between subject and object by putting internal organs on display. Since organs are the body’s recognizable structures that perform specific functions, they represent the great similarity between bodies. A recurring fever dream I have is about how two incompatible materials meet and try to dissolve into each other. The wool is too dry to reflect the surfaces of the body's interior, and too rough in its tactility. The feeling makes me sick and is for that very reason great to work with.
Pleurae - Amanda Monceau, 2022
You are the only artist that is participating with an artwork that doesn’t depict a cock, and you have said that you have problems with giving the cock more space in the culture. That was one of my questions when I started to think about this theme; is the cock really that present?
The cock has been in focus for so long that it has become completely uninteresting. There is nothing with the cock that inspires me, not visually, historically or politically. There was a time when I would have absolutely refused to be part of this exhibition. The evil cock has damaged too much and for too long, as a symbol as well as a body part, for me to be able to relate neutrally to it. Instead, I had met your idea with anger, taking a notable stand towards this concept. But to put the cock in focus from such a position is also to give it space. My viewpoint is that my political opinions about the cock have nothing to do with my art. I can't see how they relate to each other, other than being bodily. However, I do not make art that depicts or comments on our external physics and that is deliberate. I don't want to focus on the surface of our bodies, the visual layers that separate us, but on the inside where we share a lot of similarities. I also don't relate to the pussy when I make art. But seeing how many times the word cock is allowed space in this text and context, I feel compelled to write pussy pussy pussy pussy.
Amanda Monceau
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Text and interview by Mateas Pares
