CONCURRENT - GARY PEARSON & JACK JEFFREY
A favourite pairing for many with this Concurrent exhibition, Gary Pearson's Green Coat and Jack Jeffrey's After The Sculpture. There is just something about these two works, there just is.
Gary Pearson
I’ve known Jack Jeffrey for many years and have followed his work with interest over that time. Of particular interest to me is the artist’s attention to sculptural form in the traditional sense of the word, and, to sculptures various avant-garde formations in the conceptual and material production of his own work. This, in concert with his speculative, one might say idiosyncratic tendency, toward complicating these references in the vocabulary of sculpture, have resulted in some of the most challenging and original art of our time.
The Green Coat is derived from a photograph I took at the
Alhambra, in Grenada, Spain in late-January, 2014. The woman in the painting
was, along with two friends, sitting on a ledge, and like a lot of tourists
taking a break from the self-guided tour around the palace and fortress
complex. And, not unlike many others this small group of friends were
preoccupied with their mobile phones. The woman that I chose to paint was, when
the photograph was taken, in the process of reaching into her purse to retrieve
her phone.
I decided to paint only the
one woman, leaving her two friends out.
I also severely edited the
background details, eliminating parts of the Alhambra architecture and the
buildings on the far hillside. I also changed the physical posture of the woman
and portrayed her as relaxed or at rest, in contrast to the slightly nervous
appearance of the woman in the photograph. In the painting, the woman holds
tightly to her purse as a security measure, in effort to thwart any likelihood
a purse snatcher should grab it in the event she dosed off. I decided on green
as the principle color as it is associated with nature and the spring season.
jack jeffrey
The
wall-mounted sculpture in the exhibition Concurrent is part of a body of work
that I call "Sculpture after Sculpture." The idea of the work is to
present a sculpture with a complex set of associations, from basic mold-making,
to line drawing, painting, sculpture, calligraphy…. The form of the work is in
fact a mold of another object. The work is also meant to make historical
reference to the "poetry" of arte povera, the "chance" of
surrealism, the "phenomenology" of minimalism, and the
"activity" of process art.
Jack Jeffrey lives in Vancouver where he works in a variety of disciplines
including sculpture, installation, video, writing and music. His work often
shows a playful, subtle, yet critical treatment of everyday objects and spaces.
Jeffrey has exhibited extensively, including in Canada, Europe, Australia and
China - most recently in the exhibitions, "nous reviendrons, vous
reviendrez," in the Préfecture des Bouches-du-Rhône, Marseille, and,
"édification," touring Galerie du Tableau, Marseille, Schneiderei Gallery,
Vienna, and CSA Space, Vancouver.
Jack Jeffrey, Sculpture After Sculpture, 2014 |
Jack Jeffrey, Sculpture After Sculpture (detail),2014 |
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