Of this series, Kunin says: “These abstracted surreal female and non-gender-specific figures that I am continuing to develop address sexuality while incorporating imagery from once utopian structures. The body and architecture become intertwined, creating portraits that verge on the robotic and otherworldly, stand-ins for future Guerillères, or warriors.” The utopian structures Kunin refers to are manifold: Caryatids in Greek architecture dating back to the 6th century B.C.; the architecture and arts and crafts of 20th century Socialist Hungary; the Bauhaus movement, specifically Oskar Schlemmer’s “The Triadic Ballet,” and its robotic, futuristic costumes; and illustrator Aubrey Beardsley’s Art Nouveau-era drawings that incorporate both pattern and organic forms. While Art Nouveau and Bauhaus are stylistic approaches to art and design theory, they are representative of a shift toward modernism and not without their ideological dogma. Utopian structures, then, refer not only to built architecture but also to experimental constructions of thought. 

With reverence for such historical wellsprings as Art Nouveau, the Bauhaus, Greek architecture, and all manner of iridescent sources (like ceramics, glass, peacock feathers and countless other naturally occuring gleaming beasts), Kunin's sculptures read as architectural friezes in their own right, telling the story of battle-ready warriors: totemic and unwaning. Gender and sexuality have always been strong integrants of Kunin’s work. Her abstract approach returned to an overt method of figurative representation to address a mounting erasure of queer, specifically lesbian, portrayal in society at large. While possessing female attributes and symbols of femininity like breasts, keyhole shapes, and eyes, the sculptures are essentially genderless. These sentinel-like figures could hail from a futuristic utopia, serving as its protectors and guardians. The viewer can glean a narrative subtext via visual cues, but it is open to interpretation and relies purely upon the viewer’s reference-making to develop a full story.

Rainbow Dream Machine finds Kunin further developing her use of proprietary glazes. Rooted in ancient Persia, iridescent glazes experienced newfound popularity during the Belle Époque, finding their way into art and architecture during the Art Nouveau period. Kunin first began using commercial lusters while at the John Michael Kohler Arts Industry Residency, Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 2007. She then began using more complex luster glazes on her first trip to Hungary in 2009. She continues to travel to Hungary where she was a Fulbright Scholar in 2013. Visually, the luster glazes expand Kunin's idea of the burlesque, that is, to take something ordinary, even grotesque, and transform it into something spectacular. The molecular shift that occurs in the kiln combines heavy metals and results in a reaction akin to raku, depositing a final layer of shine–the fuming, oil-spill rainbow effect–on the work’s surface. Not intent on perfection, Kunin’s handling of clay involves deliberate reworking and manipulation and results in the presence of her hands and fingermarks on the forms. She introduces a new method of applying traditionally sleek and highly polished luster glazes to the field along with a new means of pulling meaning from the depths of material heritage.