RubberWare
Rubberware (midi stack)
Silicone, 2024
32cm w x 18cm d x 35cm h
As a development from earlier Vessel works, this strand of work uses original, old Tupperware containers as moulds. I appreciate their ubiquitous, utilitarian appeal, which is antithetical to the ceramic bowls and vessels in museum collections (which once themselves where created for practical use and later honed into ceremonial objects or preserved as significant objects for display).
Two types of silicone sealant are in use: one clear and one translucent. Both are non-toxic, with the bluish-tinged one being certified carbon neutral. Just as Tupperware was admired at its launch for its resemblance to jade and mother of pearl, these silicones, when used in greater density, develop fracture lines that mimic alabaster veins.
Out of their moulds, these 'RubberWare' vessels act as Tupperware ghost forms. When stacked with an open form uppermost, they attempt to elevate themselves, both in physical terms and as art objects. The silicone rubber material, applied like celebratory food piping from a sealant gun, strives for a similar feat.
RubberWare (mini stack)
Silicone, 2024
11cm w x 11cm d x 18cm h
Initial trial developing prior Vessel works with the use of found Tupperware as the forming containers, rather than found glassware.
A brief Tupperware history
Amateur inventor Earl Silas Tupper invented Tupperware in the US in 1942 using refined polyethylene. Initially, it failed to impress housewives despite praise from magazines who described it as “Fine Art for 39 Cents”.
In the early 1950s, it was saved by an American housewife Brownie Wise who introduced the Tupperware party; where women gathered in a hostess's home for an evening based loosely on product demonstrations.
By 1951, Tupper withdrew Tupperware from retail stores, making parties the exclusive distribution method. Wise became vice president, leading a multimillion-dollar enterprise.
Tupperware parties became a cultural hallmark of postwar America, embodying both thrift and abundance. Its success lay in its social appeal and the opportunity it provided for women to earn an income when workplace access was limited.
After a gradual decline over time, it finally filed for liquidation this year.
(Photo credits: Archive Photos / Brownie Wise Papers / Archives Center / National Museum of American History / Smithsonian Institution / text based on Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America by Alison J. Clarke).
