In a Time of Make Believe features porcelain and stoneware sculptures, within whose accumulated layers contain found ceramic tchotchkes. Emblems of the material world, Sonnenberg’s aesthetic is one of excess and delight, while alluding to the hidden, obscured, or concealed. Encased in a thick exterior shell of crackled porcelain, Sonnenberg’s unique technique recycles and reclaims the potential of decorative objects. By evading the sterility and discipline of “perfection” while embracing the boldly ornamental and even ostentatious, Sonnenberg imbues queerness into the realm of objecthood.

Unapologetically ornate, Sonnenberg’s visceral sculptures are a feast for the eyes. At the core of each work is a critical celebration of the role of beauty, particularly as it pertains to gay male culture. Historically focused in the Decorative arts and design realm, in professions including hairdressing, fashion, floral, etc., gay men have contributed to visual culture in modes often perceived as nonthreatening to the overarching patriarchal, heteronormative society that contains them. In forging paths to create community as well as powerfully steering visual trends, the queer imagination has been central. In a Time of Make Believe is an ode to the possibility of fantasy, wherein Sonnenberg studies the ways the artificial or imagined can create pathways to new realities. As fragments of the environment form identity, Sonnenberg permanently fuses found bits of cultural ephemera within a lustrous decorative shell.