Jeff Irwin
“The Nature of Trophies”
RB Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla CA
March 14-May 2, 2015
Article by Cathy Breslaw
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| Jeff Irwin “Dogwood Teapot” earthenware,glaze 13” x 14” x 8”
It can be said that “context
is everything”. In the case of sculptor Jeff Irwin’s current exhibition, it is most certainly the
case. Irwin’s earthenware works are entirely white with a luminescent white
glaze, and all the surfaces in the gallery are white including floors, walls,
ceiling and display structures. In addition, climbing the stairs leading up to
RB Stevenson Gallery adds to the feel of arriving in a hazy, ghost-like
‘heavenly’ space, edging upon the spiritual.
Entering the gallery, the first piece “Jumping Deer” greets you. A deer
in active motion is cut in two segments so that the head and front two legs
face you, while you have to peek around to other side of the wall to find the
other ‘half’ of it’s body. Another adjacent piece, called “Striving”, a pig
head holding up a tree branch with its snout, and a cone-like form hanging from
it , speaks to one of Irwin’s underlying conceptual ideas. Curiously, though
the works are made from clay materials, the pieces are intentionally created to
look like wood with all the nubbiness one sees on tree limbs as well as ‘sawed off’
areas in the details of the works. Many different animal images emerge
including a pig, dog, deer, cat, coyote, duck, woodpecker, horse, bear, buck
and antelope. Though some animal heads hang from the wall like trophies, others
appear to speak mostly to environmental concerns. One wall features three
horses called “Win” “Place”“Show”, - only the heads and front legs are visible,
as if the horses are actively running through the wall to meet the viewer.
There is a certain humbleness in the nature of the material and content of
Irwin’s work, as well as a clarity of purpose. The hybridization of trees and
animals integrated into mostly animal forms reminds us of the connections existing
among all living things and nature.
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| side view of the work below where the fish is revealed |
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