Sandra Osip: Florescence
Elaine L. Jacob Gallery
Wayne State University
Nov. 6, 2025
On display through Dec. 19
There’s a wonderful sense of whimsy running through the DNA of Detroit arts shows lately. I’m all for it.
I’ve documented them for Midbrow in the past few weeks, starting with Sean Hages, who took patrons to Planet Detroit via his inflatable, immersive art installation at an old church. Most recently, it was a dip into the “Uncanny Valley” with the Haas Brothers at Cranbrook Art Museum.
They all play with texture, shape and composition in compelling ways.
Sculptor Sandra Osip’s “Florescence” finishes off this trio with her show at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery on Wayne State University’s campus. I attended the opening and loved it so much that I went back to see it with less crowd and small talk (the plight of an art opening).
Like Hages’ work curating a planet all his own, Osip has created an eco-ystem that’s tough to replicate. If you’re thinking of the movie “Avatar,” it’s no surprise. She was, too.
“It’s about growing and plants and about everything in between,” Osip told me at the opening. “I love the movie ‘Avatar,' and I loved the strange land it was set in. It’s like something you see in a dream.”
This show isn’t quite immersive enough to feel like you’re in a dream when you walk through it. But her creations for “Florescence” are top notch and fill the space splendidly, like the namesake sculpture that anchors the whole show.
Anchored by cement with a metal pipe for a spine, the rest of the sculpture is stuffed fabric. Even the grassy bottom you see has a painted fabric element. (I was truly fooled by this, thinking there was some organic element here.) Like Hages’ creations, it feels like it’s from an alien ecosystem that we’ve just learned about. It’s got such an authority to it, too, but when you touch (I asked the artist permission, ok? Don’t do this on your own), it’s completely soft.
It’s a duality that Osip wanted to play with. And if you’re thinking, “Wow, that looks like an exotic bushel of dicks,” you’d be right.
“They’re supposed to be phallic!” laughs Osip. “It’s about the sexuality of plants. In nature, it’s common to have male and female parts in one form. It’s completely natural.”
“Florescence” is a newer work for Osip and without a doubt one of the most exciting in the show. The massive, complex pieces on the walls aren’t far from behind, looking more sharp-edged and metallic than their standalone sculptural counterparts but still embracing that surprising bounciness of being made from stuffed fabric, like “Vavaboom” (pictured below).
The whole show in its totality is a wonderful exploration of a late-career artist who hasn’t lost their sense of whimsy and wonder, even as the pieces themselves have a bigger meaning behind them. Like the growth and rebirth Osip is putting into the DNA of her work, she’s practicing herself as an artist as well.
