SceneHepworth_00. Installation by Rachel McCrae., December 10 – January 6, 2014, Window Box

Over the last few years I have become obsessed with Barbara Hepworth, a pivotal modernist sculptor. I would argue that Hepworth created an almost proto-meme, ubiquitous sculptural brand, long before we began to think or talk about a creatives personal output in this way. Hepworth represents a popular, agreeable Modernism: rounded, evocative, ambiguous, and utterly timeless. Think of the kind of stuff you see when entering a mid-level furniture showroom looking for decor (something Modern, something Classic). Think of the rounded forms with a hole punched through littering backgrounds of “Art Gallery” or “Cultured Bourgeoisie Office/Condo” scenes in cartoons, television, movies… An easy signifier of the classically now, the effortlessly (m)Modern (both with an upper-class “M” and a lower class “m”). Hepworth s are everywhere, ubiquitous, and to me they always look like faces (or bodies). The smooth, stone anyone face: apparently this phenomenon is called pareidolia, when vague stimulus is perceived as significant and clear.