CAN-verse
A series of sculptures exploring the tension between permanence and decay. Fired pieces preserve form; unfired ones sprout and collapse over time.
Materials: stoneware, stoneware glaze, white gold luster
CAN-verse is a personal and material exploration that began in the aftermath of 2022, during the early days of the war in Ukraine. At that time, I experienced a deep creative and emotional crisis. What I used to do felt suddenly meaningless — and the need to reconstruct myself from that fragmentation led me to seek new forms of expression.
Having spent many years in packaging design, I returned to clay with a familiar yet reimagined symbol: the aluminum can — a ubiquitous icon of disposability, mass production, and modern consumption. Through this form, I could speak in a language I knew, but about things I had never said.
The sculptural works in CAN-verse take on many states: some are fired and glazed, permanently preserving their crushed forms; others remain unfired, soft, and alive — allowing seeds to sprout through them, warping and decaying over time. Some are broken and reassembled, their visible scars echoing processes of rupture and repair.
Together, these pieces form a visual and emotional archive. They trace a journey from collapse to growth, from silence to response. CAN-verse asks whether meaning can be recovered, and whether transformation can emerge from what was once seen as disposable.
Details and Variations
Each sculpture explores a different gesture of distortion, reconstruction, or fragmentation—traces of tension held in form.
The project debuted in October 2024 during a group exhibition at Project Studios in Jersey City.
It was the first time CAN-verse was shown to the public, presented among works by other local artists.
The work on the project is ongoing.
I continue to experiment with unfired clay and live seeds, exploring how plant growth reshapes the sculptural form over time.
