Amy Cordero is a sculptor recently graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver Fine Arts Program. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with emphasis in sculpture and a Bachelor of Art in Art History. Cordero had her work titled 300 mg a Day on display with in the Thesis Review at Emmanuel Gallery in December of 2008. For this project, she used the process of creation to examine her mental and physical maladies.
Manic depression, or Bipolar disorder, is a daily affliction for Cordero. This disorder is a physical, chemical imbalance of the brain that inflicts long durations of the depressive or mania states on her mind. Living day to day with manic-depression, this process of introspection, analysis and expression has become Cordero’s therapy for the self and “a reason to get up in the morning,” Cordero states.
Artist Faces Depression
On top of this is another issue. “In October of 2007, I had surgery on the scar tissue around my fallopian tubes, uterus, and ovaries, which ultimately left me unable to conceive children.” says Cordero. This crisis affected everything about her self-perception and basic female identity. “I questioned if my inability to do the most important act joining man and woman, while also distinguishing roles, made me less of a woman.”
She explained that these troubles led to casting a nude torso of herself in wax, to which she then applied papier-mâché, creating a rough and unhealthy, scarred appearance to the perceived skin of the sculpture. “This has always been a fascination of mine, the idea of capturing a glimpse of the disease that has suffocated me; to be able to demonstrate the sickness that I feel, and have felt so many times. And there I was, staring at an image of myself, diseased.”
Further capturing the qualities associated with clinical depression, the bust is built from pieces that seem to come from different people, awkwardly negotiating the form of a torso. The interior of the hollow bust has been gashed with a razor blade repeatedly and chains anchor the piece the weigh depression drowns the mind.
Facing Manic States
To contrast the depressive state, the bust made in representation of the manic state is free of chains, and Cordero polished the aluminum to a smooth and shining surface. This illustrates the sense of euphoria, elation and elitism associated with mania. Cordero chose to use the long, spindling copper alloy from a MIG welding torch, applying it in such a way that it appears to spew from the figures mouth, recalling a fairy tale gone awry.
She grew fond of employing this copper alloy wire through the creation of a previous project, a cast of a hairbrush with the wires spiraling from the head of the brush all the way to the ground. Cordero came up with the idea while enduring a lingering state of mania and thus found it appropriate to use it in 300 mg a Day as well. Incidentally, the hairbrush piece, titled Growth, captured Best of Show awarded by Christoph Heinrich (curator, Denver Art Museum) at a Salon des Refuses student art exhibit.
For Cordero, the use of copper wire resonates with American sculptor Kiki Smith’s usage of beads to represent urine, feces and menstrual blood in an attempt to reclaim her female self. In 300 mg a Day, Cordero uses the copper wire to represent uncontrolled flow of speech and thought, a symptom of mania.
Cordero's Artistic Influences
In addition to Kiki Smith, Cordero sites photographer Joel-Peter Witkin’s work as an influence because of his portrayal of inner suffering. She also mentions Hannah Wilke who used photography and sculpture of her own nude body to explore female identity and her own battle against cancer.
Most important of influences to Cordero is Janine Antoni, who cast herself in chocolate and soap in a self nourishing and self cleansing quest. Cordero states, “I am frustrated that my sculpture is associated with pornography because it is a nude female; when I use my body in my art it is because it is what is most personal to me, and what I can easily access, and what my work is about. I use my body as a tool, in the same right that Wilke did. And like Wilke, I am here to represent it, to validate it.”
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