Amber Rane Sibley is a ceramic sculptor and draftswoman who has exhibited in major cities across the United States including New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans, as well as other locations across the country. Her solo exhibitions include Rosenberg Gallery in Hempstead, New York, multiple shows at Fierman Gallery in New York, Carroll Gallery in New Orleans, and Thomas Hunter Projects in New York. Amber has been published by notable publications including The New York Times, Hyperallergic, and Artforum as well as been awarded grants by The Artists' Fellowship Inc., Tulane Research Grant, and Creatives Rebuild NY Grant.
Macabre and disturbing, Amber Rane Sibley specializes in creating sculptural installations of distorted, dilapidated figures which express concepts of empathy or lack thereof. The figures appear to be missing limbs and sometimes grotesquely disemboweled with their organs spilling out. A question becomes posed to the viewer: Do we assist these helpless individuals or leave them in their natural state? In essence, Amber’s ceramic sculptures raise concerns about reactions to disability, ableism, and how we approach empathy towards other individuals.
Often containing pleasant pastel tones, the contorted figures of Amber Rane Sibley emit notions of dream-like or apparitional qualities, as if the presentation was a fantasy or hallucination. These highly conceptual works challenge and provoke ideas of aesthetics and bodily beauty along with figurative autonomy. Amber describes her creations as “crippled creatures” which suggest mythological overtones, in essence, the works could be described as a personal fantasy of what an unidealized figure would appear to be. These ‘mythological’ figures seem to possess unknown powers through their varied forms. Some of the biological entities appear grotesque and unpleasant to watch while others have futuristic qualities with angular distortion or attributes which are child-like in the gentle curvature of the features and innocent colors. The artist takes great initiative to create art which is willfully unpleasant or curious in order to provoke experimental conceptual approaches and create works which are non-commercial in nature. These concepts elicit expressions in relationships in revealing how to communicate with those amongst us who are less fortunate or even just vastly different from us.
Scorched (D)earth contains a futuristic-appearing figure with their angular distortions, linearity, curvature, and polished helmet-like configuration which may appear similar to a spacesuit. The biological form also appears to what one could imagine to be an extraterrestrial or at the very least a severely disfigured person missing limbs. The title also suggests playful notions of words with concepts in ‘death’ and even war. These biological remains portrayed in the sculpture could be remnants of an individual after a great and horrifying conflict of appalling technological proportions.
Amber Rane Sibley can be described as an artist who provokes our sensory experiences and challenges individual notions in how we deal with others less fortunate than us. With concepts drenched in empathy, figurative and societal destruction, personal mythology, futuristic and child-like qualities, Amber Rane Sibley creates art which elevates contemporary discourse through conceptual avenues as opposed to familiarities and ornamental traits. With a dynamic portfolio and impressive CV, this young artist offers a promising career and portfolio in the years to come through her integration of art and philosophy along with a fearless approach in conveying the macabre and disturbed.