Victoria Fuller
"DNA
imprints, CAD Systems,
Marcel Duchamp,
and Barbie's Lost Sole"
by Scott Nelson
1/22/01 - 1/29/01
You probably saw Victoria Fuller's "Shoe of Shoes" at Navy Pier in the summer of 1999 as it stopped crowds and invited viewers to climb inside its 18 x 10 x 6 foot hull of a woman's, high-heel shoe. The 2-ton giant is composed of 2,000 smaller aluminum heels, individually arc welded together. The Shoe's Media coverage spanned Chicago to London via Fox-2, NBC-5, CBS-4, ABC-30, WBEZ Radio, The Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, and London's "Hello - The World in Pictures."
Victoria spoke with Scott Nelson from ARTofChicago about her inspiration for The Shoe of Shoes, her technique, and her future projects.
SN: Please describe your work as an artist.
VF: I moved to Chicago about 8 years ago to get my graduate degree at The School of The Art institute of Chicago. Since then I have been making sculpture out of common everyday objects that one would find in their home such as suitcases, shoes, doorknobs, electrical outlet plates, electrical cord, faucets, garden hoses, etc. The work deals with transforming objects from their expected uses to the unexpected. In my work I am expressing the contrast of nature and culture; work that reflects patterns or systems found in nature, yet created with objects that are man made. I also make paintings influenced by surrealism and scientific illustration.
SN: Where do you draw inspiration for new work?
VF: My work has been influenced by Pop art of the '60's and the master and originator of all found object art, Marcel Duchamp. Natural science and surrealism are also influences. I am inspired by objects that I see around me and in junk shops, nature, and by seeing other artists work. These things stimulate my thought process.
SN: A giant shoe?
VF: The Idea for the shoe came to me as part of the natural thought process, aside from the fact that the arch of a high heal shoe and the pointy toe and heal is a complex form and lends itself to sculpture. When I had been thinking about what I would do for a large scale sculpture, since I had never done one before, I thought of a sculpture I had created previously that was a cone-shaped pile of cast aluminum shoes. I thought I could create a larger pile for Navy Pier. Then it occurred to me that I could do a form that people would recognize out of shoes and from there my thoughts lead me to making a shoe out of shoes. I liked the idea of having the building blocks of the main structure become like cells, containing the DNA or imprint of the body, having the same form as the form it is creating.
SN: Explain your artistic process behind the Shoe of Shoes.
VF: After I designed the initial small scale model of the shoe out of Barbie doll shoes it took me about a month to design the understructure armature on a computer CAD system with the help of industrial designer David Harris. While the armature structure was being built at Orsilini's metal fabrication shop the shoes were being cast at Meskan Foundry. It took another month of welding and grinding with the help of a team of people to complete the shoe. Afterwards it was sandblasted and a clear coat polyurethane finish with metal flakes was applied.
SN: What has been your experience as an artist in Chicago?
VF: Getting my graduate degree at the Art Institute was a marvelous experience. I have found alot of opportunity here in Chicago. Although the art community is not as big and celebrated as New York it is a viable community. It has been sad to see some galleries and alternative spaces go under or move, but new ones have also sprung up. Having the Art Institute and MCA close by is also an advantage.
SN: What are you working on currently? Where can we see your work?
VF: I am currently working on several pieces for a show at the Chicago Cultural Center next year. Some of the materials are garden hoses, faucets, wall outlets, shower heads and pipes, washtubs and electrical cords, suitcases, doorknobs, gords, and hair.
SN: Will there be another shoe?
VF: One is enough for me. Think of it as a lost sole.
Victoria Fuller's Shoe of Shoes is currently on view in St. Louis, Missouri at the Brown Shoe Company at 8300 Maryland Ave. It has been at this location since headlining for the "Really Big Shoe Show" at the City Museum in St. Louis throughout the year 2000.
The Shoe of Shoes is available for sale or lease. All interested parties may contact Stephanie Hayden of ARTofChicago at 312.829.6378 or hayden@artofchicago.com.
