I think we all in our own way strive for perfection.  We pick different benchmarks, but we all have that thing we strive for. I love to bake. When I saw Amy Stevens Confections series years ago, it stuck with me. Not just because the visual cacophony is vibrant and crazy, but the idea of striving for perfection in something as intricate and complicated as cakes, I feel her obsession for greatness. As works of art, these cakes are crafted with all the love and care they can muster. As visual objects, the dignity and the formality of the framed image elevates these quirky objects to greatness.

Delicious, right?

 

 

About Confections –

The Confections photographic series began as a response to my 30th birthday. It was a celebration of birthdays, color, pattern and obsessive absurdity. My original idea was to bake 30 birthday cakes for myself and photograph them. I ordered a cake decorating kit online and watched an instructional video. When I quickly discovered my cakes were never going to look like the ones in the video, I decided to leave them in their exuberantly imperfect states.
In the course of eight years (2005-2012), this series evolved into more of a humorous, feminist, conversation on life and our struggles for perfection.

 

 

 

About Amy Stevens –
Amy Stevens earned a MFA in Photography from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, and a BFA in Photography/Studio Art from Arizona State University. She has participated in both group and solo shows in major US cities as well as Canada, Ireland, China and Lithuania. Stevens has notably shown in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Delaware Art Museum, Jen Bekman Gallery in New York and the ShiJiaZhuang Art Museum in China. Amy’s work is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The Cleveland Art Museum and The Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick, Canada. Her work has been published in Real Simple, Russian Esquire, Venus Zine, and French publications étapes and Muze.
In addition to her personal artwork, Stevens is part of a two-personal international curatorial team having recently produced two exhibitions last year in Philadelphia and Dublin, with a new traveling show of Irish and American artists in the works for 2014/2015. Current and upcoming exhibitions include Dali Photo Festival in Yunnan, China, the Invision Photo Festival in Easton, PA, Warsaw Photo Days in Poland, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia and a solo exhibition at Biggin Gallery, Auburn University. Amy currently resides in Berks County, Pennsylvania.

 

To see more of Amy’s Confections, contact Crista at the gallery for a select portfolio of images, or log onto her website for the full portfolio.