American Art Collaborative

Beatrice Wood began to create sculptures like this woman in the early 1970s, calling them “sophisticated primitives.” She intended for these sculptures to appear humorous, and used them to reflect her feelings about society, human behavior, and gender relationships. The woman, presumably a prostitute, happily sits on a chair wearing an oversized hat and a strapless dress that reveals her slip at the bottom. Wood often said that she would make figural sculptures such as Perpetual Motion in order to take a refreshing break from making pots
“I make naughty figures to laugh and comment on this funny world in which we are caught.” Beatrice Wood, quoted in the exhibition catalogue for Intimate Appeal: The Figurative Art of Beatrice Wood, 198