Zofie King
Secular Relics and Apocryphal Fossils
September 6 – 29, 2019
Using a cabinet of curiosity format, Zofie King reflects on how both geological and cultural objects connect us to history. Fossils serve as a record of geological time, in which humans are a mere blip, while reliquaries encapsulate myths that go back several centuries. The origin of relics is often dubious, and their provenance hard to track. In fact, a reliquary is venerated for what it is thought to contain, and its real value lies in the story that surrounds the object. Similarly, fossils hold our fascination by telling us about the history of life before humans. Studied extensively, they are put into context using the scientific method, but in holding a fossil, one is also physically connected to a prehistoric time.
King has created her own “fossils” using antique holiday molds, which celebrate pagan holidays that have been claimed by religion, and mixed them with objects that reference both religion and contemporary issues. Playing with ideas about objects as evidence, King invites the viewer to think critically about these objects in a time of post-truth.
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Born in Poland and raised in Germany, Zofie King immigrated to the United States in 1998. After graduating with a psychology degree in 2002, she studied interdisciplinary craft at Towson University. For six years she worked in interior design while taking classes at MICA and the Corcoran, and devoted herself to her studio art practice in 2012. Currently, King is a sculptor working primarily with found objects, both conceptually and visually. She has had solo shows at the NVCC Margaret W. Fisher Art Gallery, DC Arts Center, Mount St. Mary’s University Gallery, and her work has been included in numerous group shows. King was part of the Sparkplug Collective from 2017- 2019 and is currently a member of the Washington Sculptor’s Group.
