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Rebecca Campbell — Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
Rebecca Campbell

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

2009

Rooted in both ecological memory and emotional vulnerability, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" presents a preserved avocado tree reinforced with steel and fiberglass and then wrapped entirely in hand-sewn velvet, transforming a once-living organism into something simultaneously tender and indestructible. Perched along its branches, hand-blown glass birds mounted on brass feet contain Windex, their translucent bodies holding a substance associated with clarity and domestic labor, suggesting fragile creatures sustained by the mundane rituals of care. Steel elements filled with Solar Salt harvested from the Great Salt Lake introduce a geological and geographic specificity, grounding the work in the mineral history of the American West while evoking themes of preservation, salinity, and slow natural process. Campbell's choice of materials operates on multiple registers at once. Velvet, historically associated with luxury and mourning, softens the armature of industrial reinforcement beneath it, creating an object that invites touch while concealing its own structural complexity. The title, borrowed from the 1982 Culture Club song, infuses the piece with a plaintive directness, asking a question about harm that resonates across relationships between humans and the natural world, between sentiment and endurance, between beauty and the conditions required to sustain it. The work refuses easy resolution, holding these tensions with quiet formal confidence. Completed in 2009 and currently held at the Phoenix Art Museum, this signed work represents Campbell at her most materially inventive, synthesizing craft traditions, found natural forms, and conceptual rigor into a singular object. Collectors drawn to work that operates at the intersection of landscape, memory, and emotional candor will find this piece exceptionally rewarding. Its scale and material complexity make it a commanding presence in any serious collection.

Medium
Avocado tree reinforced with steel and fiberglass, covered in hand-sewn velvet, hand-blown glass birds on brass feet filled with Windex; steel filled with Solar Salt harvested from the Great Salt Lake.
Signed
Yes
Location
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

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About this work

Rebecca Campbell, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? , 2009

Rooted in both ecological memory and emotional vulnerability, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" presents a preserved avocado tree reinforced with steel and fiberglass and then wrapped entirely in hand-sewn velvet, transforming a once-living organism into something simultaneously tender and indestructible. Perched along its branches, hand-blown glass birds mounted on brass feet contain Windex, their translucent bodies holding a substance associated with clarity and domestic labor, suggesting fragile creatures sustained by the mundane rituals of care. Steel elements filled with Solar Salt harvested from the Great Salt Lake introduce a geological and geographic specificity, grounding the work in the mineral history of the American West while evoking themes of preservation, salinity, and slow natural process. Campbell's choice of materials operates on multiple registers at once. Velvet, historically associated with luxury and mourning, softens the armature of industrial reinforcement beneath it, creating an object that invites touch while concealing its own structural complexity. The title, borrowed from the 1982 Culture Club song, infuses the piece with a plaintive directness, asking a question about harm that resonates across relationships between humans and the natural world, between sentiment and endurance, between beauty and the conditions required to sustain it. The work refuses easy resolution, holding these tensions with quiet formal confidence. Completed in 2009 and currently held at the Phoenix Art Museum, this signed work represents Campbell at her most materially inventive, synthesizing craft traditions, found natural forms, and conceptual rigor into a singular object. Collectors drawn to work that operates at the intersection of landscape, memory, and emotional candor will find this piece exceptionally rewarding. Its scale and material complexity make it a commanding presence in any serious collection.

Medium
Avocado tree reinforced with steel and fiberglass, covered in hand-sewn velvet, hand-blown glass birds on brass feet filled with Windex; steel filled with Solar Salt harvested from the Great Salt Lake.
Year
2009
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, United States

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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