Soft Trope
Virtual Solo MFA Exhibition 2020

Rooted in science fiction world-building, these works imagine artifacts from a universe adjacent to our own. Familiar signals—luxury materials, bodily forms, ornamental gestures—are recomposed into unfamiliar configurations, suggesting objects designed for purposes not meant to be fully understood by their human observer.

Working intuitively with materials rarely associated with science fiction—fabric, yarn, soft and domestic textures—Judge explores tensions between the artificial, the organic, and the apparently organic. These works draw on recurring sci-fi themes of identity, control, violence, and desire, producing objects that oscillate between comfort and unease.

Influenced in part by Philip K. Dick’s notion of extra-dimensional entities using lures to attract humans, the sculptures incorporate suspended, eye-catching forms and subtle cues of threat. Gold appears sparingly, suggesting divinity, celestial energy, or false promise. Rather than illustrating narrative events, the work prioritizes emotional response—how attraction, safety, and luxury can function as traps when desire is mistaken for security.