UNTITLED DONUT #14
Acrylic lacquer on blown acrylic plastic by Craig Kauffman in “Glow”Jones Center for Contemporary Art, through Jan. 5
Youth, cheerfulness, and buoyant humor emanate from Craig Kauffman’s Untitled Donut #14. It balloons out from the wall, a benign, lopsided pink inner tube. Its demeanor suggests beneficence; if it had facial features, it might be smiling gently like a child’s favorite toy. In fact, it reminds me of nothing so much as a luminous teething ring for a giant baby.
Kauffman, known in the 1960s for his affiliation with the Finish Fetish movement, has coated the inside surface of this donut-shaped form with acrylic lacquer using a spray gun. This gives it a soft, even, iridescent sheen, while allowing light to glide undiffused across its voluptuously curved external surface. The gloss of its unpainted outer skin beckons the hand to touch; I felt a strong impulse to run my hand over its cool, smooth surface when the curator’s back was turned.
For a moment, standing in front of this piece, I imagined the wall as an opaque pool of milky liquid and Untitled Donut #14 as just the upper tip of a huge form looming underneath the pool’s surface. What would that form look like, in its entirety? A gargantuan balloon sculpture? The tip of an immense plastic phallus? The glistening lips of a giant plastic doll? Kauffman’s piece invites such mind play, blending a sensuous shape and gleaming, flesh-toned color with the rounded friendliness of Baby’s bath toy.
This article appears in November 29 • 2002.