For Sweet World’s inaugural show, Travis Ficarra presents a new Chocolate Goblin. The sculpture is installed in a long, narrow room, directly across from Koons’ Gazing Ball
(Gericault Raft of the Medusa). You can’t avoid it. Previously shown at Glasshouse (Melbourne, Australia) and DARKMOFO (Hobart, Australia), the Goblin returns here with a more aggressive presence. Glossy body, fixed expression, surfaces that hint at damage. Ficarra works with 3D like others work with memory, mixing familiar shapes with contextless fragments. There’s no clear story. Just mood, pressure, suggestion. The figure doesn’t explain itself. It waits, blocks, stares. Half toy, half glitch. Positioned to control the viewer’s movement, its role isn’t narrative; it’s spatial.
This new work fits into a broader visual language Ficarra has built over time: digital textures, fake gloss, broken candy finishes. There’s something comforting and hollow at once. Things that look sweet, feel wrong, and resist clean interpretation.
