NOTES
“Madonna Figure” is cast from a small plaster statuette found in a tourist shop in Lourdes, France. Pilgrims, or people traveling to sacred sites for religious reasons, come to Lourdes in hopes of witnessing a miracle.
Katharina Fritsch explores the nature of human perception and experience through sculpture. Her alterations of scale, color, and material make otherwise familiar objects seem strange. Fritsch is inspired by aspects of her native German folklore as well as broader consumer culture, which she mines for references. While objects such as this often have autobiographical significance, Fritsch also intends them to hold general, collective meanings, both as symbols of popular culture and as triggers of our own memories and associations.
