We have been quietly waiting to give a fuller perspective on the work of JESSICA SANDERS. These images of pieces we have available for sale at IKO IKO are accompanied by some questions and answers that aim to introduce some of her history, thoughts on her work, on life, on influences and a little more. Enjoy getting to know her with us.
For additional information, please email info@ikoikospace.com or call 323.719.1079.
For more of her work: http://www.jessicasanders.org/
Where are you from, where have you lived and where do you live at present?
I’m from South Florida, and I currently live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY.
I have lived in:
Mena, AR
Santa Rosa, CA
Houston, TX
Sana Barbara, CA
Camden, SC
Naples, FL
Miami, FL
Columbus, OH
Brooklyn, NY
Will you provide a brief bio and describe an element of your practice?
I live and work in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY, and share a studio with fellow artist and frequent collaborator, Ryan Estep (and an opinionated Boston Terrier). I make sculpture that is derived from conceptual and minimalist forms. Reflecting on personal observations, my work looks at interactions through the filter of materials and physicality, focusing on matter that I find to have a lifespan - wax, sugar, clay, honey, hair, dry wall mud, concrete, sliver leaf.
I received my BFA in ceramics from the University of Miami in 2007 and my MFA from Ohio State University in 2010. I’m currently a participant in the Bronx Museum 2012 Artist in the Marketplace Program, and have recently exhibited at LBi, New York, NY, The Bronx Art Space, Bronx, NY, and the Active Space, Brooklyn, NY. I have previously shown throughout New York at spaces including 35 Meadow, Grace Exhibition Space, Nurture Art, and AIR Gallery, and currently have select work for sale at Iko Iko in Los Angeles, CA. I will be in the upcoming Second AIM Biennial, Bronx Calling, at the Bronx Museum of Art, and was recently featured on the New York Art Blog, Art Fag City.
Use three verbs that capture your work:
change, touch, distill
What musician or group would you pair with your work?
Le Tigre covering Phillip Glass, but that hasn’t happened yet, so until then,
KYOKO’S HOUSE, by Philip Glass, from the Mashima Original Music Soundtrack.
What people, places, or things influence you in your practice?
Eva Hesse
Roni Horn
Piero Manzoni
Tehching Hsieh
Anne Truitt
Robert Morris
Chris Burden
Marcia Tucker
Italian Neo Avant Garde of the 1950s and 60s
Emily Jane Bronte
John Irving
Audrey Hepburn
Charles and Ray Eames
traditional American textiles and patterns
Islamic ceramics
celadon porcelain wares
growing up in a place with no seasons
growing up on a horse farm
flat, wide spaces
the ocean
the physical presence of a body with a material
going slow
peeling an orange
The Dia: Beacon
The National History Museum
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Victor Erice’s Lifeline/Ten Minutes Older
Robert Besson
lists
What reading material are you enjoying?
I just finished Joshua Abelow’s book, Painter’s Journal. It’s the six journals from his first year in NY, completely engrossing and irresistible. I couldn’t put it down. Now I’m on to Pulphead, a collection of essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan; Bomb’s Speak Art, edited by Betsy Sussler, which are interviews with artists; and A Short Life of Trouble by Marcia Tucker (which I’ve read so many times I’ve lost count, it just keeps getting better each time).
What is your idea of future?
I think of future as a continuation, a Möbius strip, always looping back around itself. No beginning or end, it’s an investigation of the between.
What is your working uniform in the studio?
Black Japanese Cotton pants or knee length skirt, waist – to – knee apron tied in front, V-neck Tee shirt on top, hoodie, boat shoes, and socks in the winter.
Above images from top to bottom:
JESSICA SANDERS, Accumulation Series, 2011-2012, beeswax on stretched canvas.
JESSICA SANDERS, Chains, 2012; cotton fabric, hand dyed fox fur, sheepskin.