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What Will You Give Me If I Let You Down?

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Photo: Dan Fox
What Will You Give Me If I Let You Down?
Photo: Dan Fox

What Will You Give Me If I Let You Down?

Artist (born 1967)
Date2011
MediumLow-fire clay, glaze, hand-carved polychrome wood, and steel
Dimensions24 × 32 × 7 in. (61 × 81.3 × 17.8 cm)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineCourtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
On View
Not on view
Label TextKristen Cliffel considers herself a “storyteller who happens to make sculpture.” Animals are metaphors for human experiences in her narrative sculptures which often stem from events in her personal life. A tiny home forms the support of the seesaw in this sculpture with a donkey hovering at the top, while the lighter animal, the bird, is perched at the bottom. The seesaw evokes children’s play, but the unnatural imbalance encourages further consideration.

Kristen Cliffel se considera una “narradora que, por casualidad, crea esculturas”. En sus esculturas narrativas, los animales son metáforas de las experiencias humanas, las que suelen surgir de eventos en su vida personal. Una casa diminuta hace de soporte del balancín de esta escultura en la que un burro parece volar en la parte superior en tanto que un animal más liviano, el pájaro, está sentado en la parte inferior. El balancín evoca los juegos de los niños, pero el desequilibrio poco natural invita a una reflexión más profunda.
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