Furpile (Plein Air Viewing)

This listing is for the plein air viewing of Furpile. The work comprising the show will be displayed outdoors next to Blue Slide Playground.

Furpile is a please-touch stuffie sculpture show. Furpile intends to imbue both the audience and the artist with a shared experience of play, such that each of them may participate in their capacity as a novice, and that a basic lived experience may be transmitted through the work itself.

Dolls have performed roughly the same function for the whole of human history, but I thought the general notion of a "doll" may yield work too variable in scale and format. A Beanie Baby is a sort of object with parameters that are generally understood and that few people, besides persons employed by Ty in an official capacity, have ever attempted to construct. There is a way to "fail" at making a Beanie Baby in a way you can not fail at making a "doll." So, I asked about 500 people to make a Beanie Baby and mail it to me. Furpile is a show of the counterfeit Beanie Babies I received in return (roughly 75).

At the close of the show, all of the works on display will be donated to a thrift store somewhere in Pennsylvania, such that these Beanies may reintegrate into our larger ecosystem of objects.

PLAYDATES ARE ALLOWED AND ENCOURAGED. Furpile is a great opportunity to socialize stuffies that don't get out of the house much.

PG-13 for cartoon nudity and violence. Parking available along Beechwood Avenue. Sunscreen recommended.