Charles Mulford

Lives and works in Chatham, NJ, USA

Artist statement

Charles Mulford fuses 3D-scanned human heads with bodies assembled from organs, medical devices, and found parts, producing figures inseparable from their afflictions. The series emerged during Mulford's own struggle with pneumonia and respiratory failure. These figures are stuck in damaged bodies. Humor and misery coexist in the same forms: a head sinking into a tangle of intestines resting on an Oreo cookie, or lungs protruding from a head as ears. When your only comfort is a cookie, horror and absurdity become nearly indistinguishable. These figures, fused from damaged and repurposed anatomy, barely function. The same parts that sustain the figures often confine them, holding them immobile. And still they remain; there is dignity in just surviving. The bone-white filament used throughout the series evokes the off-white and beige plastics of medical equipment and household objects. Across smooth surfaces, the filament reads as plaster or a translucent alabaster stone. Where layer lines are visible, the material declares itself as industrial.

Artwork