Patricia Ayres
Patricia Ayres’ practice combines her background in fashion design with sculpture—drawing on themes of transgression, punishment, and confinement.
Using familial histories involving the structures and symbols of organized religion and the US penal system, Ayres analyzes how the body may be constrained physically and psychologically. She makes anthropomorphic, totemic sculptures from fabric strips wrapped around foam and batting that point to Joseph Beuys, Arte Povera, Eva Hesse, Doris Salcedo, and more. In addition, Ayres combines found furniture and elements of industrial design—wheels, tables, handrails—to create uncanny sculptures that undo the standards of the built environment. In addition to her work referencing the constraint of the individual human body, Ayres has realized a series of octagonal floor sculptures that reference the panopticon and collective architectures of control and punishment. Throughout her practice, Ayres draws on the methods and materials of fashion to pair them with industrial design and architecture to imagine the nuanced layers of human enclosure.
New York, NY
Born New York, NY
2019 Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Madison, ME
2018 MFA Hunter College, New York, NY
BFA Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY
AAS Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
www.patriciaayres.com