Corrina Goutos
'Bivalves no Booty'
Corrina Goutos fuses fragments of mass-produced objects with raw natural materials in conceptual sculptures and wearable artworks that resemble fossils from the future. Goutos calls this practice “anthrosmithing,” in which she transforms everyday items, such as outdated technology, releasing them from their utility and giving them new life that highlights how they shape identity. In Bivalves no Booty, the artist features two recent series, The BlossomVerse and Vestigial Trait Bait, that explore the tension between individuality and interconnectedness in our consumer-driven society.
In The BlossomVerse, Goutos reconfigures porcelain shards and electronic waste into distorted artifacts that challenge capitalist ideals of perfection and subvert the corporate design trend of biomimicry. In Vestigial Trait Bait, Goutos merges ancient shells with industrial hardware to create wearable relics that blend the history of adornment with the concept of evolutionary appendages, reflecting how technology has become an extension of the self. Through these hybrid works, the artist investigates our sentimental attachments and choices to discard or preserve, revealing how objects carry and transmit meaning over time. By melding technological remnants with geological remains, Goutos creates new totems of self-expression that evoke nostalgia and belonging, while also embracing the uncanny beauty of growth, decay, and metamorphosis.
Corrina Goutos fuses fragments of mass-produced objects with raw natural materials in conceptual sculptures and wearable artworks that resemble fossils from the future. Goutos calls this practice “anthrosmithing,” in which she transforms everyday items, such as outdated technology, releasing them from their utility and giving them new life that highlights how they shape identity. In Bivalves no Booty, the artist features two recent series, The BlossomVerse and Vestigial Trait Bait, that explore the tension between individuality and interconnectedness in our consumer-driven society.
In The BlossomVerse, Goutos reconfigures porcelain shards and electronic waste into distorted artifacts that challenge capitalist ideals of perfection and subvert the corporate design trend of biomimicry. In Vestigial Trait Bait, Goutos merges ancient shells with industrial hardware to create wearable relics that blend the history of adornment with the concept of evolutionary appendages, reflecting how technology has become an extension of the self. Through these hybrid works, the artist investigates our sentimental attachments and choices to discard or preserve, revealing how objects carry and transmit meaning over time. By melding technological remnants with geological remains, Goutos creates new totems of self-expression that evoke nostalgia and belonging, while also embracing the uncanny beauty of growth, decay, and metamorphosis.
About the artist
Based in Hamburg, Germany, Corrina Goutos (b. 1991, New York; SCAD B.F.A., jewelry, 2013) engages the mediums of jewelry, sculpture, and installation. Goutos coined the term “anthrosmithing” to describe her neo-material practice, renouncing the notion of a “raw material” to reconsider how craftspeople imprint themselves on a material yet are just one of many agents constantly reshaping it. Goutos’ future artifacts tell a story of mankind from achievements to decadence. Precise preindustrial handicraft is applied to the most superfluous of mass-produced objects with the same intention as a rare earth resource. In fusing and entangling, de- and reconstructing these vibrant materials, Goutos upheaves modern yet woefully outdated value systems in urgent need of reassessment. Her radical consideration of the political ecology of human and nonhuman materials further breaks down the hierarchy of man and matter, reminding us of our collective struggle. Goutos has received recognition within contemporary jewelry and craft as well as fine art and sustainable fashion. She practices internationally, showcasing works in a range of scales from large-format installations and detailed mini sculptures to wearables intimately contextualized on the body.
Credits
Bivalves no Booty is organized by SCAD Museum of Art assistant curator Brittany Richmond.
