
Handywoman, Iran, 7th-6th Century B.C.
2015
Handywoman, Iran, 7th-6th Century B.C. suspends ancient ceramic vessels within a mirror-mounted panel framework of brass and glass, creating a dialogue between archaeological artifact and contemporary sculptural intervention. The work measures an imposing 87 × 82.6 × 24.1 cm, commanding the wall with a presence that is simultaneously archival and immediate. Rocklen preserves the vessels in a state of careful suspension, neither fully displaying them as ethnographic objects nor fully obscuring their historical identity, inviting the viewer to reckon with the tension between preservation and transformation. Ry Rocklen is known for his practice of elevating found and repurposed objects, particularly those freighted with personal or cultural history, into compositions that question value, time, and material meaning. Here, the mirrored surface introduces the collector and the surrounding space as active participants in the composition, folding the present moment into an object that carries nearly three millennia of history. The brass and glass framework reads as both protective architecture and aesthetic choice, lending the work an institutional gravitas that gently subverts the conventions of both museum display and domestic collecting. Available through Feuer/Mesler and signed by the artist, this work represents a compelling entry point into Rocklen's ongoing inquiry into how objects accumulate and shed meaning across time. The pairing of an ancient utilitarian form with the reflective logic of contemporary sculpture produces something genuinely rare, a work that is historically resonant, visually striking, and conceptually rigorous in equal measure.
- Medium
- Ceramic vessels, mirror-mounted panel, brass, and glass
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Gallery · Feuer/Mesler
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