The hulking sculptures of Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor don’t hide their aggregative nature, packed with wood, quilting pins, styrofoam, bedsheets, nails, foam, and other unlikely materials. The Sacramento-based artist blends mythology and contemporary commentary in the works. The artist has cited Francisco Goya as an influence in her works, as well as “the ingenuity and creativity of shanty town,” according to a KQED interview.
“Existing somewhere on a spectrum between elegy and absurdity, the work examines a setting where cautionary tales, private anxieties and natural history museum dioramas mash-up…and attempts to close the gap between tenderness and the grotesque,” a statement says. “Through a feminist lens, O’Connor’s sculptures appear as something like a ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ from a feminist imagination. In ways similar to the work of Orly Cogan, O’Connor remakes found domestic objects, in this case repurposing fabrics from the domestic environment into altogether new objects.”
See more works by the artist below.
Oakland-based artist 
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Opening on May 2, “Degeneration/Regeneration" features the paintings of