Top Heavy

Michael O'Malley

Top Heavy

March 17 – April 15, 2000

Reception: Friday, March 17th, 2000, 6:00 - 8:00pm

In Michael O’Malley’s Top Heavy, the viewer is invited passage through sculptural meander. An organic network of white plaster tunnels, supported precariously by stilt-like legs, is molded to the shape of the upper body.  As the individual navigates through the matrix of dimly lit and tightly fitted passages, the head and shoulders become visually separated from the lower body evoking two distinct responses--from inside the structure one’s interaction feels intimate and experiential while from the outside it becomes strangely and almost comically voyeuristic. Top Heavy plays with constructed social norms of intimacy, physical proximity, and public observation. Drawing inspiration from interactive architectural spaces configured for fantasy and play such as theme parks, public gardens and fantasy architecture, O’Malley desires his sculptural work to function as social, participatory devices not simply as discrete and static art objects.