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Erika Bornová: I'll Do Everything and Bed
Erika Bornová's sculptures, which largely focus on women's issues,
are often created of fragile polystyrene and have been described as
being in the style of "magical realism." Whether taking the form of
group sculptures or separate figures, they appear seemingly idyllic, but
often conceal a story of complex human relationships. Some sculptures
retain the white color characteristic of polystyrene; others are
decorated with polychrome or accompanied by various features.
Bornová's I'll Do Everything series is inspired by the pages of the
popular Czech advertisement weekly, Annonce. The series of
fifteen small polystyrene sculptures of prostitutes placed in tiny
ascetic "rooms" reflects the strange ambiguity of marketable sex that
promises to reveal the unknown and, at the same time, exposes the lack
of invention, banality and poverty. Erika Bornová is interested in the
contrast between reality and illusion—between the promised paradise of
endless pleasure in the embrace of a skillful and passionate sexual
goddess and the banality of amateur photographs of females in poses from
X-rated B-movies with all kinds of erotic "munition", including
home-made SM instruments, artificial furs, cheap lace underwear, and
silicon breasts. This variety of items is represented in the photographs
in the Annonce ads that she displays alongside of her sculptures.
She uses fragile and light polystyrene to cut the most delicate details,
such as a fur collar casually enlaced around the neck, and then she
polychromes them. Finally, she covers some of them in wax so that their
smooth surface looks—as in the depicted scenes—improperly perfect
and immaculate. She decorates the negligee with beads that are a cheap
simulation of the luxury goods. Such trinkets are applied here as a
lure, as a delusory image of beauty, luxury, and delight that obscures
the misery and poverty of reality.
Two of her sculptures from the I'll do Everything series are
depicted here, along with Bed, which is part of another project.
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