RABBIT in the MOON

Pop surrealist CIANE XAVIER takes a techno-optimistic approach to making wearable art.

- STEPHANIE FRONDOSO.

"THIS MASK IS MEANT TO SYMBOLIZE THE GROWING TREND OF CENSORSHIP AND CANCEL CULTURE in today's society," Ciane Xavier says as she dons a piece of jewelry that covers half of her face.

The bas relief sculpture of a human head with rabbit ears, a recurring motif in her work, was created in her home studio, intimate compared to her main space where large sculptures are fabricated. In this room, she keeps a specialized 3D printer for liquid resin printing and its required curing machine. Sets of tiny scrapers and pliers are arranged on her work desk, along with jewelry hardware components. Against the wall is an Alienware desktop, which she uses to design games and render sculptures.

Ciane's jewels are palm-size, provocative versions of the human-scale figural sculptures she is well-known for. She puts on a collar necklace made of a miniature human body stretching out, curving backward, wrapping around her throat to seemingly choke her. Then she clasps on an earring in the shape of an ear; the effect was like being on the set of a sci-fi film. On her fingertips, she slips on delicate fingernail ornaments. Ciane designed these pieces so that the public could engage with her art on a personal level, as part of their daily activities, "instead of sitting on a shelf or hanging on a wall." We tried on the jewelry. They fit well on the body, lightweight and comfortable to wear.

The process of 3D printing jewelry is more complex than at first glance. Liquid resin is poured into the machine and prints in layers. The pieces come out in a rough state, with intricate support fragments attached to them. A tedious post-process follows with washing in an alcohol bath, curing under UV light, meticulously trimming away the support, sanding and filing with metal tools and a handheld drilling machine, until the final pieces are glossy and refined. Finally, Ciane adds a top coat of liquid resin.