‘Fat Babies’ focuses solely on portraits of obese children. Communicating through tactile painting techniques a conversation between the artist and her audience about the juxtaposition of innocence and the obscene. She is interested in how images that are ostensibly innocent and pure as a baby can sometimes reflexively elicit uncomfortable and even unseemly emotional responses. The works can spin the viewer's response from intrigue to repulsion and simultaneously evoke thoughts of theoretical contradictions and challenge habits of perception. 

The ‘Fat Babies’ series references Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and our modern society’s neglect and perversion of innocence. In the famous novel, Dr. Frankenstein’s monstrous creation is described to its readers as "Formed into a hideous and gigantic creature, the monster faces rejection and fear from his creator and society.” Much in the same way, the ‘Fat Babies’ series brings attention to the unfortunate, predetermined reality her subject matter will inevitably face in their lifetime.

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Shelley Holcomb

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