BIG BODY PLAY uses humor and imagination to explore the banality of the everyday. Artists embrace playful colors and materials, on plush, oversized forms to celebrate boredom, experimentation, and absurdity. Engaging themes of the body, pop culture, nostalgia, and domesticity, this collection of soft sculptures highlights the fascination these artists have with their materials and their love of “playing” in the studio. Utilizing current material culture as inspiration, these objects tell personal narratives, make punny jokes, and address our need for recreation and distraction.
from the exhibition text
Installation of BIG BODY PLAY at Fine Arts Center Sheffield Wood Gallery. Photography by Jessica Swank. Photo courtesy Tiger Strike Asteroid.
May Howard reviews the role of artists-archivists Myriam Amri and Xitlalli Alvarez Almendariz in An Act to Prohibit Camels and Dromedaries from Running at Large at Friends Gallery, Houston.
In June's co-publishing partnership with Oxford American, UFO enthusiast and author Will Clarke goes behind the scenes at Rice University’s 2025 Archives of the Impossible Conference in Houston, Texas.
Our monthly round of opportunities includes a resident artist program for craft artists in Penland, a residency in Knoxville, and an open call for installation-based solo exhibitions in Miami,
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