Phobia 1995

Kenneth Price’s ceramic sculpture ‘Phobia’ at MoMA is an odd, organic thing, a bit like a weird fruit or sea creature, realized in lumpy shades of green and yellow. I can imagine Price coaxing it into being, pushing and prodding the clay, letting intuition guide his hands. See how the surface is all dimpled and uneven? It makes me wonder what he was thinking as he worked. Was he embracing the unpredictable nature of the medium, or fighting to control it? That dark, round hole is interesting, isn’t it? It’s like an invitation to look closer, to peer into the unknown. It makes me think about the relationship between interior and exterior, and the way our inner selves are often hidden from view. Price’s sculptures feel like they’re in conversation with the work of other artists, like the biomorphic forms of Joan Miró or the surreal landscapes of Yves Tanguy. Artists borrow, steal, and riff off one another all the time! Ultimately, ‘Phobia’ is about the push and pull between control and chance, and the way art can help us make sense of the messy, unpredictable world we inhabit.