Skuja Braden

Interviews by Brainard Carey

Skuja Braden portrait in porcelain 2020 Skuja Braden is a pseudonym & the surnames of International duo Ingūna Skuja (Latvia), & Melissa Braden (USA) working collectively & primarily with porcelain. Skuja Braden represents an “absence of presence” of an individual author, where two artists have combined forces creating a fictive and alternate proxy identity. Collaboration is the non-hierarchical framework Skuja Braden utilize as method, strategy, and philosophy, exploring alternative relations to power through a fusion of disparate identities, inclinations, and perceptions. The work is conceptually based, but always expressed as a synthesis of painting & sculpture. Their works blend decorative, literary, and political elements into hybrid forms utilizing material that is historically associated with absolute refinement. Afternoon Matinee, porcelain (65x39x21 cm) 2021 Flower Power, porcelain (64x33x30) 2022 Rock-a-bye, porcelain, stoneware, wood, and wax (56x64xx36cm) 2008