Victoria Dugger’s Out of Body at Sargent’s Daughters

Victoria Dugger “Wallflower Target Practice” (2020, detail); nylon, ink, acrylic nails and hair, 50 x 20 x 20 inches.

Victoria Dugger: Out of Body

Sargent’s Daughters

June 24 through July 24, 2021

By JOHN DRURY, July 2021

If there is to exist a poster-person in our quest for equity in the visual arts, Victoria Dugger has got my vote. As part of our re-definition – an overdue, present re-evaluation/realization (for some) of just exactly what art is, and who might make it (uh, hello already – it’s fucking everyone!) - Victoria’s is an attraction denying the categories in which some might look to define her – bright, gregarious and intelligent, Victoria is magnetic simply because she is frank and talented. That’s plenty. Dugger wears love for what she does, on her sleeve. We need more of this, and her first solo exhibition in NYC, is up now. Watch this young maker, from Columbus, Georgia. Get there early.

Victoria Dugger, “Little Vicky of 3 Years” (2021); nylon, hair and pointe shoes, 48 x 20 x 10 inches.

Disfunction need not be deemed a weakness, and although small and comical, her Flower Boi – a floor based, pseudo area rug, brightens the day - from its hold on what is very limited real estate. While the bloom of yarn hardly accommodates both feet comfortably, it remains a delight; much larger in “personality” than in true physicality. Is it a self-portrait? Spread about the gallery space then, as if radiated from this core of delight, a set of garden chairs support soft figures built from pantyhose foundations and fluorescent décor. If distorted, each however remains a lady, and is a celebration of desire, feminine pageantry and strength. Seated, they shine like the sun, and we find ourselves stooping in accommodation; to avoid them, in their otherness, is simply to lose. WM