Critique of Rebecca's first project

(In this review, I am taking into consideration that this creative work is an academic endeavor in response to a course assignment about considering "nature and manmade; and what makes something natural versus artificial" )

Rebecca's gory piece was a finished mixed media piece with a core of fired, brightly glazed ceramic form representing the split two hemispheres of a human brain, with real and colorful wires attached and spilling out from its ceramic bowl, representing a broken skull. The central piece was embellished with patches of "scalp" and human hair strewn about. The piece was presented upright on the floor with a perfect circle of splattered blood stains around it.

It is very clear that the brain,skull,scalp and hair were the natural component and the electrical wires were the manmade component. What was not clear, was the cause of the broken skull with the splattered blood, the explosion and destruction of the brain with its wires attached. It was also not clear what the relationship of the wires to the brain was. The viewer is left with lots of uncomfortable questions in attempting to understand the piece: Was it attacked by a vicious predator? Was this the brain of an insane person who was "hardwired" to self destruct? Did the wires represent some sort of spreading matrix of lethal metatasis of a cancer? Was it some sort of electric shock treatment gone horribly wrong? Clarity on the concept came from the artist: the piece was about a dumb blond, whose brain exploded from information overload...it was meant to be a play on the old dumb blond jokes. But considering there was actually a brain there (and not an empty air head )we actually see a blond with a brain. Unfortunately , perhaps because I am a blond, I fail to see how that concept addresses nature versus manmade.

The brain and the bowl skull were well crafted but looked a bit too intact
to be effective as the result of an explosion. If part of the brain spilled out of a more lopsided bowl, the effect of an explosion could have enhanced. Had the blood been in a less perfect circle and a more chaotic it also would have conveyed the idea of an explosion. Had the brain been on top of a torso with long flowing blond hair, dressed as a self centered image-conscious female body, it may have conveyed the idea of a dumb blond better. As a whole,the construction was symmetrical and orderly and probably would not have held my attention if I had seen it in another setting. Shock value alone never holds my interest.

In spite of appreciating the evidence of much time, work and full use of the entire ceramic process by Rebecca, I question whether she has really conveyed her concept and I question if she really addressed the question of nature versus artificial as assigned.