Rain Harris
Bliss, 2006. Porcelain, luster, plexiglas, rhinestones, 12 in by 9 in by 13.5 in.
While my work ranges in scale from dainty diminutive pedestal objects to large sprawling installations, there is a common thread that runs through these seemingly disparate bodies of work. My ideas are spurred by an analytical interest in the ironies associated with excess and class, which become interpreted visually through color, pattern and decoration. I freely borrow stylistic embellishments and motifs from the decorative arts and combine incongruous elements to create work that pushes decorative eclecticism to a point of excessive overindulgence. This allows the work to transcend itself, re-compose itself and find a new coherence. I look to the contradictions that reside between the tasteful and the tawdry and I create arguably elegant objects and installations that oscillate between good and bad taste. I ask if an ugly object be in “good taste?” Also, can a beautiful object also be a tasteless object? Frequently, I integrate lowbrow materials into my work to create “refined” work that teeters on the edge of ironic gaudiness. At other times I incorporate jarring color combinations and allow the work to indulge itself and brazenly flaunt its tastelessness. rainharris.com 14