b'Anya KivarkisPinocchio StoryNicolas Orozco-ValdiviaAt the heart of Anya Kivarkiss practice is the transformation of image to object. Working primarily in silver, she (re)creates specific pieces of jewelry as they appear in fashion pho-tographs, films, and other media, such that if any part of the jewelry is not visible in the original photograph (because of a stylish lock of hair, the angle of the body, or the crop of an image) then that part of the object is not included in the copy, leaving gaps or uncanny blank passages in its stead.In bodies of work such as Vanishing Point (2008) and September Issue (2014), the (still wear-able) results are glittering critiques of a commodity-obsessed society. Firmly grounded in both the theory and praxis of material culture, they deftly link historical and contemporary notions of beauty to the media spectacle that presents all kinds of wealth in an era of falling economies and rising inequalities. The transformation of image to object is here inextricably linked to a particularly aspirational example of fantasy-to-reality: the hoped for, lusted after, and so-often obstructed dream of economic mobility.If you doubt it, try viewing this art while in a state of not-having, or under the influence of being-broke. It is a heartbreaking thing to have beauty so near yet so far. In Kivarkiss work, you get what could previously only be wished for; can hold in your hands what could once only be gazed upon. The image/fantasy does become object/reality, yet for most people it is all still too far away. Pinocchio becomes a real boy, but it doesnt change a thing, in the grand scale. Wishes come true, but they are not enough.Post-2008, and especially since the 2016 elections, questions of what is true, real, or authentic have urgently entered into the public discourse in the United States. Newspapers fret over the death of facts, governments demand real identification, and audiences clamor for authen-tic voices and experiences. Meanwhile, Kivarkis has taken on the question of what happens after reality.Opposite: Anya KivarkisSmoke, 2018 (detail)44'