Nicole Maloof
Mom, I’m low
Sugar, corn syrup, water, food coloring and resin on wood panel, 14 x 14 inches, 2022.
Sure enough, she had too much sugar in her blood!
Sugar, corn syrup, water, food coloring and resin on wood panel, 22 x 22 inches, 2022.
STATEMENT
My practice engages themes of assumption, expectation, seduction and the abject body. I investigate my relationship to my body and its implications in the world through material exploration and abnormal forms. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was four years old. By working with homemade hard candy, Jell- O and spent medical supplies, in combination with plaster, acrylic paint and resin, I seek to challenge the audiences’ expectations as I create bizarre sculptures that are humorous, ironic, childlike and disturbing all at once. I employ my used Autosoft 90 Infusion Sets in order to create sculptures comprised of thousands of molds. The Autosoft 90 Infusion Sets insert a cannula in my body where the insulin I administer enters; I use one Set every three days and have done so since I was six years old. The discarded bodily medical material the mold is made from creates distinct contrast to the beautiful exterior. The sculptures are simultaneously playful and twisted, seductive and repulsive based on their outer appearance and deeper meaning. Candy is a humorous material wrapped up in irony, resent and dependence. The degenerative forms that are entangled amongst the sculptures parallel the way that the insulin I administer breaks down sugar in the blood.