Christina Kenton | Romantic Donkeys
- Christina Kenton
- Romantic Donkeys
- Canvas, acrylic, found object, cigarette lighter
- 7 x 1 ½ x 5 ½ in.
Christina Kenton first elected to make protectors for her lighters because at night, left outside, they got chilly. And in the morning, after a stay in the great outdoors, they often would no longer work. So, she built her lighters a casing to keep them warm.
But instead of a simple sleeve, she creates fanciful, hand-sewn worlds that swallow the lighters whole. For one cigarette lighter Kenton crafted a bed with pillows the pattern of a cloud-dappled sky. In it, a green fruit and a rogue flamingo watch idly by as an unexplained cavity tears through the bed "Nightmare on Elm Street" style, with a yellow hand reaching out from what's underneath. Magritte would surely appreciate the horror.
Christina has been creating her lighter protectors for around a decade now. Along with the common therapeutic effects of art making, Kenton also noticed the repetitive, detailed work helped soothe her chronic vertigo.