Candy Coated exhibits at Philadelphia Museum of Art

CandyCoated Wonderland

May 4, 2013 - November 17, 2013

Philadelphia-based multimedia artist Candy Coated (formerly Candy Depew) has been invited to reinterpret children’s fancy dress costumes from the Museum’s collection, bringing her signature treatment of seamlessly blended ceramic wall gems, silk-screened fabrics, and vinyl decals to the Joan Spain Gallery. For this exhibition, she will create a storybook narrative based on costume selections that range from Little Bo Peep and Peter Pan costumes to soldier and sailor outfits to regional dress for special occasions.

Dramatic and whimsical still-life arrangements will originate from a miniature, quilted playhouse—made from a patchwork of silk-screened and decorative fabrics with patterns inspired by historical designs—located in the center of the gallery. Child-sized mannequins in nurse uniforms will “tend” to stuffed animals, complementing visualized fairy tales incorporating wall paintings, vinyl flourishes, patterned wallpaper, sparkling ceramic gem enhancements, and additional costumed mannequins. Childlike figures both admire loosely rendered wall paintings of historic domestic scenes and become a part of them, merging the three-dimensional and two-dimensional worlds.

Curators
Dilys E. Blum, The Jack M. and Annette Y. Friedland Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles; and Laura Camerlengo, Exhibitions Assistant, Costume and Textiles

Location
Joan Spain Gallery, first floor, Perelman Building

View a video of her process for this exhibit.

For more info visit philamuseum.org.

Related Grantees

Related
Mir Masud-Elias 2026 spotlight
How do your cultural roots, migration stories, or ancestral histories shape the way you move through your work and the world? I am from Dhaka...
2025 Transformation Award Recipients
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Leeway Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of its 2025 Transformation Award (LTA), awarding a total of $180,000 in...
2025 ACG Banner
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Leeway Foundation is proud to announce $65,000 in funding to 29 artists and cultural producers through its Art and Change Grant...