AMY SASS

A series of paintings created for HOMING: A Gallery Exibit at The Flight Deck, 2015

 

Toilet paper is one of the first things we encounter each day. It touches us intimately in a way nothing else does. When we reach for it, we expect it to be there and when it isn’t, it’s a tragedy. Essential and uncelebrated, this mass-produced household object has great associative power. Its image can conjure humor, revulsion, embarrassment, drama and the philosophical. I started to think about TP in a social context. A commodity, a privilege, a finite resource, a metaphor for death. That stage when you and your lover begin buying toilet paper together. In studying it so closely, I have grown a deep appreciation. The way it is made, the beautiful, flexible, cylindrical shape, the nuances of white, it’s softness, lightness, cheapness and tear-ability. I have felt positively religious about it since I’ve begun painting it. For me, it is a reminder to see and notice the beautiful mundane.