Sculpture
polished bronze, steel, glass, hydrochloric acid, oil paint
The sculpture is an interior portrait of the stupendous sword swallower Krissy Kocktail from Coney Island. It's made out of thin steel rods that look like blades of hay; the metal skeleton conceals a laboratory flask containing hydrochloric acid - the equivalent of Krissy's bowels. Immersed in the acid is a blade of sword, disappearing with time, being slowly digested. We witness a rare moment in which the surrealism of the circus side show becomes, right before your eyes, genuine magic, revealing the intimacy and the great power of the human body.