 Deidre Prosen's totems are quirky hot pink
and gilt meditations on contemporary society,
consumerism, violence and war, and gender.
These plastic votive totems assembled from
baby doll faces and limbs, tiny soldier men,
discarded makeup, hair balls, and costume
jewelry take their kitsch seriously. The
eyeballs that surface here and there ask
the audience to take them seriously, too.
In every piece at least one figure or mirror
stares back at the viewer. The acrylic
paint is worked up to the consistency and
gleam of nail polish. Hair balls serve as
momento moris to remind us that the things
we slough off and throw away as trash are
really evidence of our own mortality; these
hair ball "offerings" cause the
viewer to pause and to consider the refuse
made sacred. In Prosen's work
high heels become as threatening and ominous
as plastic guns and toy soldiers.
Gender, sex, and reproduction are foregrounded
in Prosen's totems with an insistent
query.
One pink totem addresses the
question of
reproducing in an overpopulated
world.
A shovel full of babies is thrust
towards
the viewer from the center of
the piece to
show the pressure put on women
to have or
to not have children. A
sovereign cupie
doll stares coyly from the top
of the totem
and seems to demand that the
viewer answer
her question. At the same
time, a background
medieval-style diaper patterning
of single-packaged
pepto bismol pills expresses
the nausea induced
by such pressure.
Another piece also forces the viewer to confront
issues of reproduction. This time in
overwhelming red, eight smiling baby doll
faces peer at the  viewer as they guard packs of birth control
pills. Meanwhile, two insistently phallic
bananas jut out of circles of hair, and eyes
and red stained high heels pose aggressively.
In the center an organic fetal form bears
voodoo stabs from pearl-headed sewing pins.
Through the process of making these totems,
Prosen takes the plastic junk we throw away
and gives it a new life by means of totem
resurrection. In discussing her work,
Prosen comments that the totems seek to resurrect
and respect what has been made, used up and
tossed away. Though the totems' themes
reflect on heavy topics, Prosen's handling
of these themes leaves the viewer with a
feeling of energy.
Jenny Lyon, Class of 2000
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