Ilana Harris Babou -- Kon

Ilana Harris-Babou
Kon, 2024
Glazed ceramic
3 1/4 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/4 in.

Ilana Harris-Babou’s "Kon" (2024), is resemble deflated Kong toy – a type of rubber dog toy built to conceal a treat – whose stacked, bulbous shape alludes to modernist sculpture. Hand-glazed in rich, complex blues and, it is a container of desire that represent all the challenges to its attainment.

Ilana Harris-Babou’s work has been exhibited throughout the US and Europe. She is Assistant Professor of Art at Wesleyan University. Recent exhibitions include Touch Detection at Dreamsong, Golden Thread at the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum, Needy Machines at Candice Madey and Under My Feet at Storefront for Art and Architecture. In May 2023, Harris-Babou's video installation Liquid Gold took over the screens of Times Square for the Midnight Moment program. She has been included in the Istanbul Design Biennial (2020) and The Whitney Biennial (2019). Harris-Babou’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Wellcome Collection (London), and Electronic Arts Intermix. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Artforum, e-flux, Sculpture Magazine, and Art in America, among others