Breasted Buddha
Artist: Sherry Markovitz (American, Born 1947)
Date: 2002-2003
Medium: Glass beads, papier-mache, mixed media
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Given in honor of Thelma Hewitt Smith and Fred A. Smith and their family
Object number: 2019.17
Label Text:Trained in both printmaking and ceramics, Sherry Markovitz began to use glass beads and other mixed media in her work in the 1980s to create powerfully symbolic works. Her ornately decorated busts, often with animal heads, in part represent rebirth. Markovitz takes inspiration from non-Western folk, ethnic, and tribal art forms and imbues her objects with a cross-cultural sensibility through beads, which are used for adornment in many societies. Here, she focuses her attention on Buddhism, specifically the lesser known female Buddhas. Her interpretation of the Buddha, with its animal-like face and intricate beaded mandala patterns, is incredibly complex, yet strangely serene.
DescriptionThe work is a busted buddha figure with a cat-like face entirely covered in multi-colored glass beads.
Not on view