Elenor Wilson
American Tourister Still Life
ceramic
Milwaukee Art Museum, 2014
Formed of fragile white porcelain, American Tourister Still Life by Elenor Wilson displays how luggage becomes furniture to a traveler. Speaking to the fleeting nature of style, the feet of the “furniture” and the lady’s high-heeled shoes, discarded nearby, underscore the transient nature of fashion. Trends flow through time and reappear, re-imagined. The feet of the furniture belong to the Victorian era, the heels and Coke bottle connect to mid-century and the luggage to the 1970’s in this object created in 2009. We form materials, but the materials we surround ourselves with have the ability to form us.
Top photo by Bob Barrett, Detail photo by Liz Bruhn, 2014
