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AJ “Spoopy” Rappaport

Works

Baby Wreath, 16 x 20 x 1 inches, Recycled Melted Plastic, 2022

Description

Made from recycled plastic collected from Lake Ontario and gathered from friends’ and family’s personal use, Baby Wreath is a playful yet uncanny object. This sculpture while bright in colour, can be read as a representation of new lifecycles that are born eternally into plastic and waste. Each baby was individually crafted and supports the next plastic baby, endlessly continuing the cycle of plastic babies. The piece is crafted in the style of a wreath to convey the celebration of life, as many wreaths do, but upon closer inspection, viewers can discover a more enigmatic perspective.

About

AJ ''spoopy'' Rappaport (they/them) is a multi-media artist and writer from Toronto who works primarily in drawing, painting, digital art, print media and installation. AJ completed their BFA in 2018 and their INDI (Individualized) Masters in 2020 researching the esports community for Super Smash Bros. Melee. at Concordia University in Montreal. They self published an adaptation of their thesis as a book called Melee is Broken (spoopy.ca/book).

Their work deals with themes of the temporal and the ephemeral. They encourage play and collection in life and art, with an emphasis on accentuating earthly beauties. Their work, often embracing kitsch aesthetics, will pose questions on memory and its capacity, or rather its in-capacities. Specifically, they investigate nostalgia, its properties and the retro through and with the semiotics of early video game and PC culture, usually in some sort of assemblage form to reference their enchantment with collection.

Website: https://www.spoopy.ca/