The pieces Progeny (silver and pink) and Offspring (white) extend the artist’s decades-long work in the Notes on Self series, focusing on body-scaled sculpture as a vessel for complex human experience. These works depart from the artist’s own form to mark the scale of a new generation: the pieces are dimensioned to the standing heights of the artist’s young grandson (age four, for the silver pieces) and granddaughter (nearly four, for the pink and white pieces).

Constructed as pairs, the forms subtly reference chromosome pairs, drawing a line back to Radtke’s earlier DNA series and the concepts of heredity and lineage. The works use delicate materials—silverspun polymer and monofilament. The silver mesh, specifically described as the “color of armor,” introduces a conceptual tension: embodying both the vulnerability of childhood and the protection afforded by familial connection. The use of white and pink further emphasizes the tender, nascent stage of life.

Collectively, the sculptures meditate on the profound connection across generations and the delicate balance between genetic continuity and individual autonomy. They position the body’s shifting form as a central site for exploring identity, suggesting that even the seemingly simple scale of a child can contain vast, interconnected narratives of self, family, and domestic ritual.