lizabeth rossof sculpts a terracotta army of pop culture characters

lizabeth rossof sculpts a terracotta army of pop culture characters
photos by phyllis b. dooney / courtesy of lizabeth rossof

lizabeth eva rossof’s ‘xi’an-american warriors‘ intersect contemporary popular culture and ancient artistry, uniting some of the best known characters from american television with the historical chinese terracotta army. notable cartoon and comic book personalities from batman and mickey mouse to bart simpson and shrek are added to the distinctly robed bodies of terracotta warriors. rossof worked closely with areplica studio in xi’an, china to ensure that no detail would be overlooked, the traditional garb was most accurately rendered and that her own army would be made from the same earth as the original statues.

‘armored warrior spiderman’

through her practice, rossof playfully explores the concerns of american media’s global influence, and china’s industry of counterfeiting these copyrighted properties. the dissemination of personal, political, economic, and sexual power and freedom in the digital age is challenged and probed and — as an interventionist and provocateur — rossof seeks to challenge societal and commercial norms.

‘general mickey’

‘general bart’

’emperor batman’

7’ ‘armored warrior batman’ in xi’an

’emperor batman’ drying in the xi’an sun

holding the terracotta figure head of the spiderman sculpture

many of the heads drying in the sun, and mickey mouse ears on the right

‘xi’an american warriors’ use the same body molds and the traditional replicas