Janine Antoni 'Gnaw'

The artist used only her mouth to break off pieces of material from a 600lbs cube of lard and a 600lbs cube of chocolate. From the lard pieces, combined with red pigment she reformed 135 tubes of lipstick. The chocolate, along with her saliva, she cast 27 heart-shaped boxes for chocolate.

The reforming of the sculptures is interesting to me, although in the case of this piece I don't like objects that were made.  There is the potential for my clay sculptures to have an almost infinite life cycle, being reclaimed and reformed over and over and over. Conceptually, this would fit with what I am thinking about and making- I want the work itself to reflect life in all its aspects, and the things that sustain it- breath, flesh, fat, skin, bones. These are the essential components of our lives and are truly cyclical, although these cycles are invisible. Our skin sheds, we swallow ourselves, we excrete and absorb and recycle. This is what I want my work to speak of. 

I also find the method of making interesting in this piece- sculpting using something other than the hands. Although the cube format is almost minimalist, the intimacy of the biting makes a very alive piece of work.
I prefer looking at this work separate from the reformed pieces at the end of this page. I think that those aspects of the work add an artifice that it previously lacked. Without it, the work is reminiscent of animals, stone, erosion, desperation, humanity.