Ceramics and textiles share several traditions. Both media have long occupied the realm of craft, are often functional, and tend to be tied to narrative and storytelling, whether sharing in family lore or communicating something about their owner.
For Shae Bishop, combining the two offers a way to tether the enduring and universal with the intimate and personal. The Richmond-based artist has spent more than a decade creating innumerable ceramic tiles that he stitches together into bandanas, suits, and other garments. “By merging the materials and fitting them to my body, I was seeking to merge the personal with the historical, to locate myself and my individual narrative within the larger story of human culture,” he tells Colossal.
Bishop’s garments have evolved in complexity and embellishment during the last 14 years, as he gravitates toward art historical narratives and the self-mythologizing associated with cowboy culture. Pieces like “Waistcoat of Earthly Delights” reference Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych and its alternative realities. Long interested in the human-nature relationship, Bishop draws on Bosch’s biblical retelling as a way to “reimagine our fraught interactions with strange and misunderstood creatures like giant salamanders and venomous snakes,” as he adorns a vest with a pair of white serpents and vivid flowers.
A peek at Bishop’s Instagram reveals a deep reverence for snakes—there are several images of the artist with the reptiles draped around his neck and arms— and an interest in reinventing the fear and animosity associated with the creatures, which he hopes to present instead as “a hero, an icon, and an ecological ambassador.”
This intention emerges, in part, through more performative works like the turquoise, fringe-lined “Rhinestone Rattlesnakeboy Suit.” Bishop often wears the elaborate getup while stationed inside a booth and handling a snake, a performance evoking entertainment ventures like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and the Roy Rogers Show.
The artist also frequently photographs himself out in the wild, whether knee-deep in a swampy landscape or perched atop a horse. These immersive images add another layer to the performative aspect of the project and reinforce the world-building and storytelling capacity that fashion has.
Of course, cowboy and Western culture are deeply entwined with American identity and masculinity, and Bishop reflects on these influences as he creates floral chaps and fringed hats. He adds:
I like the tension between utility and conservatism on one hand and idiosyncratic flamboyance on the other hand. The colorful floral outfits of country music history and the high heels and ornate leatherwork of cowboy boots are such unique expressions of culture. And I look at darker elements like toxic masculinity and a gleeful love of fossil fuels. I also put myself into this work. I try to be self-critical and interrogate my own love-hate relationship with these cowboy tropes, while still keeping a sense of humor.
“Rhinestone Rattlesnakeboy Suit” is on view through next September at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in an exhibition devoted to state fairs. This winter, Bishop will show pieces at Belger Arts in Kansas City and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and he’s currently working on a collection of ceramic diving helmets, along with leather shoes. Find more on his website.
porcelain, underglaze, glaze, canvas, PE fiber, 32 x 18 x 9 inches. Photo by Mercedes Jelinek
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