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Mum's Bag (Searching for Coins)
Thomas Martinez Pilnik
- Yarn on monk's cloth
- 2023
- 24" x 36" x 18"
"When I was young, I loved the feeling of money. The power emanating from a haul of shiny coins stolen out of a Prada handbag from my mum’s collection was irresistible, even when I knew it was child-support money meant to keep the fridge full at home. When I used the money to buy 'Crash Bandicoot' for my Game Boy Advance, I soon found myself caught in a web of lies and mistruths on the phone wailing with my Dad because his disappointment stung worse than anyone’s. But that was frankly irrelevant to the kleptomaniacal pull of my next heist.
Stealing money to buy a video game, or a 'Harry Potter' DVD, or my first album (Elephunk, Black Eyed Peas) was to convert it into a piece of escapism. For as much trouble as I got into every time I catapulted my mother into further financial instability, a point I had not internalized at the time, I never did have to return the objects. I played 'Crash Bandicoot', watched 'Harry Potter', listened to 'Hey Mama' and 'Where is the Love', and was never asked to sacrifice those moments of escape. In the same way that mum’s bags were for her a physical reminder of a previous fantasy, a life she both missed and escaped, my exploits that began in the bags left me with a parallel feeling of both freedom and repression."
- Thomas Martinez Pilnik
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Thomas Martinez Pilnik
Raised by Brazilian parents in London, Thomas Martinez Pilnik works primarily in ceramics and textiles to explore the complexities of familial ties and personal history.
Navigating the delicate boundary between reality and memory, Pilnik draws inspiration from childhood recollections of grandparents, experiences of post-divorce custody arrangements, and the intimate atmosphere of family members gathered around the kitchen table enveloped in cigarette smoke.
Through textured glazed terracotta sculptures, Pilnik captures the raw essence of physicality and touch-memory. Each piece bears the imprint of the artist’s own hands–molded, pinched, and pulled in an attempt to immortalize the process of creation itself. By infusing his works with autobiographical elements and private moments of love and trauma, Pilnik crafts tangible records of his emotional journey. Ultimately he invites the viewer to consider the nuances of their own past and contemplate the universal themes of human experience embedded within each piece.