Marcia Pitch : Beyond The Playroom

My sculptural assemblages are built from the plush, squishy-soft bunnies and teddies of our childhood. These stuffed toys, symbolic of our childhood, might evoke happy memories and nostalgia for our past. But in my art, these innocents are no longer in our playrooms. They exist, exposed and vulnerable in a grown-up world that is complicated, perplexing and sometimes sinister.

At first glance, my pieces are vibrant and exuberant in bright colors and alluring textures. Yet playfulness and humor give way to a disquieting sense of menace. The toys are cut open and drastically altered: some are sewn back up with visibly jagged and haphazard seams, while others remain with their insides exposed.

I am inspired by the rich tactile surfaces of our twentieth century materials. Polyester and plastic toys can achieve a luminous, kitschy kind of beauty - but they are often tossed away, and newer, ever more beautiful objects are bought to take their place.

My anxieties inform my work. Trauma and joy are channeled through and into my art. This series examines our innocence and vulnerability: how we know, but are not certain, how our world impinges, how our culture works to enrich and confine us. It is through transformation and regeneration that we move - beyond the playroom.

- Marcia Pitch, 2009