"Some people asked how I derive such a connection between rusting steel and potato... Just eat more potato chips! Mood lifting food! 😝 Commodity is a secondary thing. But you got to buy some chips! Beware! Steel turns brown; turns into potato; turns back to rust; and returns back to earth."
These polished steel potatoes are presented (alongside brown washed potatoes) through an installation, whereby the artist becomes a vendor manning a potato stall. It allows the audience to participate in a make-believe interaction of buying potatoes. They have the opportunity to experience the weight and tactile quality of the pieces, and become part of an interaction where we might observe the interdependency of sculpture making and daily activity. Unlike working with metal, she has had more experience cutting, mashing, cooking and eating potatoes in her life.
The project draws on the term “Naked Potato” — a peeled potato without butter, without seasoning. As an artist, Ining is interested in the raw, sculptural beauty of her chosen material — mild steel. She plays with their natural state: unprocessed, unpurified, unfinished and imperfect. Taken perhaps, with a pinch of salt.
