Sarah Applebaum is Soft Core

Emmanuel and I snuck out of the office early last Friday to visit Sarah Applebaum as she put the finishing touches on Soft Core, her new show at Receiver Gallery. Her work is a sort of stream-of-consciousness sculpture loosely based on dreams and archetypal imagery, and it often involves some kind of togetherness. In her portfolio are a group sweater, and a conjoined Yeti suit wearable by three people at once. Her new installation is a cozy explosion of rainbow colors and softness as you will see in the photos below.

Sarah’s dogs enjoy relaxing on her sculptures and modeling her costumes.

Emmanuel also enjoys modeling.

Sarah created a geometric cave in an empty room in her home and then transferred it to the gallery. Her friend helped fabricate the lovely soft-sided raindrops.

Emmanuel took a call on the knit-phone.

Sculpture detail and leafy paper cascade.

Sarah rescues abandoned “knittens,” knitting projects and crocheted afghan squares, and gives them a fantastical new life.

High-five.

As we filmed her introduction to the show, three creatures created by Sarah busted into the gallery and started dancing with her dogs. Luckily, we were able to document the behaviors of these curious yarn people in their natural Soft Core habitat.

Sarah Applebaum’s Soft Core installation at Receiver Gallery is on view through June 26th, 2009.