Christopher Jagers

Friday, January 27, 2006

Jay Sullivan

As I am beginning a figurative journey within my own art, I have to consider the influence of a former teacher of mine (and current friend). The top picture is an example of his current work made from straw, plaster, and wire. And below that is a very early work from 1979. He obtained permission to model from an actual cadaver for 2 weeks, and used a variety of unexpected materials for construction. He informed me that bamboo was used for a primative sketeton because it would flex as the clay on top dried (shrinkage). Also, gauze was used for the patches of flayed skin, and then most of the figure was skinned with tin. When I first saw this, I was shocked that the sillouette looked so utterly real, only to have my eyes adjust and realize how crudely made it is. This caused me to speculate much more about the “how,” and look for ways these materials governed the generation of shapes and forms.

Looking at his work encourages my interest in reduction because it demonstrates that the power of reduction comes from its power to “expand” and cause other images to happen.

posted by chrisjag at 04:50pm