Maridad Studio Explores the Interplay Between Bodies and Objects
Indulging Pleasures of the Flesh
Words by Janine Stankus Photos by Eric Morales
It’s a dark and stormy night (literally). Jennifer Pate is up late drawing. She’s craving…something. A cinnamon bun! She can’t get it out of her head, but the pantry is bare. So she lets the pen have its way. Slowly, she materializes at the center of the ooey-gooey treat, pulling away pieces of soft, glazed flesh. It’s bliss.
This drawing set off what has become a prolific body of work: watercolor vignettes that imagine food, drinks, and plants as semi-human figures in positions ranging from playful to provocative. Take the “Affogato Girl,” limbs splayed over a glass, body a scoop of ice cream under a slow drizzle of espresso. Or the long-legged clementine removing her peel. The dried flowerings hanging from tied limbs. The slice of pumpkin pie on hands and knees.
“This journey really began with my own exploration into food, and I think it was a really nice place for me to be honest about temptation,” says Jennifer. “Temptation exists whether we give into it or not. And I love the idea of temptation that I feel but I’m not going to quench. I can quench it in this visceral, illustrative way.”
What started as a meditation on temptation has evolved into an ever-growing series that binds Jennifer’s penchant for figure drawing and her interest in movement, body image, health, and sexuality.
Her cocktail images, for example, are largely inspired by burlesque, an art form she gravitates toward, and where she’s found a community of women in Austin who share her passion for finding empowerment in the movement of their own bodies. “I think of burlesque [as] similar to having a cocktail—it has all of this tease and allure that comes with the color, the glass, and the garnish that goes on top.” There is pleasure in the sensory aspects, the imagining, even the not-having.
As Jennifer’s process has evolved, her connection to the work—especially the sexuality in it—has grown even more personal. “It feels like I’m opening up a secretive journal every time I share a piece,” she smiles. The work has also helped her navigate feelings of being “overwhelmed by labels” after coming out as bisexual. “[I was] really stripping that away and saying, ‘This is a body in motion…’ That’s what I try to capture with my pieces.”
The magic of Jennifer’s drawings is that they’re not just personal or just provocative. They ignite the viewer’s imagination. What comes first; what comes after? They are vignettes, moments in time that the viewer gets to play with. They’re both a page out of the personal journal of the artist and a place for the viewer to inscribe their own story or to simply take pleasure in the looking.
Contact:
Maridad Studio
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@maridad.studio
