Füsschen

Aaron Sheppard

Mixed media sculpture

80″ X 33″ X 42″

Aaron Sheppard’s “Füsschen” dismantles and reconstructs the myth of the mermaid, pulling it from the realm of fantasy and forcing it into a space of raw materiality and surreal transformation. Unlike the sleek, ethereal figures of folklore, this mermaid is fragmented, disjointed, and exaggerated, an entity that has been rebuilt rather than born.

The distorted wooden limbs, carved with rough, almost visceral texture, twist upward in a pose that feels both balletic and unnatural—suggesting movement but also an entrapment within its own form. The torso, a mannequin-like structure introduces a layer of artificiality, further breaking away from traditional depictions of the mermaid as a seamless fusion of human and aquatic elements. Instead, this figure exists in a state of tension between construction and deconstruction, a creature neither fully formed nor entirely undone.

The head, or rather, the absence of a conventional head is replaced with an extravagant, almost grotesque mass of textured, bulbous forms, reminiscent of coral growths, sea anemones, or an overgrown baroque wig. This eruption of material excess subverts the idea of flowing mermaid locks, instead becoming an almost parasitic embellishment—luxurious but consuming, a visual embodiment of beauty turned invasive.

With “Füsschen”, Sheppard challenges the mythology of transformation and femininity, presenting a siren that is neither seductive nor submissive, but rather *defiant in its asymmetry, awkward elegance, and hybrid existence. It is a mermaid that refuses the fantasy of smooth perfection, instead demanding to be seen for what it is: rough, strange, and undeniably present.