Kara Walker - A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby

80 tons of sugar were used to create Kara Walker’s sugar Sphinx, otherwise known as the Marvelous Sugar Baby.

Creative Time commissioned Walker to create the sculpture in Brooklyn’s defunct Domino Sugar Factory. The sculpture is enormous in scale, grand and elegant. The core is made of styrofoam, coated with many layers of a water and sugar paste.

Walker suggests the whiteness of the sugar references its aesthetic, clean and pure quality. She is also highlighting the slave trade, which was an integral part of the processing of sugar.

Around the Sphinx are many “Lollipop Boys,” sculptures composed of sugar that has turned to molasses. At their core, the Lollipop Boys are resin — and they are melting before our eyes.

Walker’s work is a “must see.” You can read all about it, but you have to witness the enormity of this project to appreciate Walker’s genius.

On July 6th, this extravagant sculpture will be demolished, along with the warehouse structure, to make way for a new residential and commercial complex. I hope they have a candy store…

Kara Walker’s “A Subtlety,” is on view Fridays 4–8, Saturdays and Sundays 12–6 through July 6.