Kelly Akashi on Creating “Sublimely Offensive” Sculptures and What Happens When Your Medium Becomes Obsolete

Wads of chewing gum are stuck to the shiny, smooth surfaces of Kelly Akashi’s elegant glass botanical sculptures, sharply undercutting their preciousness. These sculptures, like casts of various parts of the artist’s body, are littered throughout her current show, “Infinite Body,” on view at Tanya Bonakdar in New York through June 10. Other sculptures—delicate and glassy, hearty and crystalline—sit on plinths that are made of dirt, yet perfectly rectangular. U