THE GESTURE AND THE MEANING
by Jacqueline Shatz
My wall sculptures involve suspended states of being and the permeable nature of time. The images of swimming, floating and “about to” gestures imply anticipation, hesitancy, anxiety or relief from anxiety. I did not set out to express specific qualities – they emerged from the selection of the figures and the creation of the pieces themselves. The meanings are hidden like the meanings in dreams.
These works ride the edge between painting and sculpture; between stillness and movement; between the figurative and the abstract. The dimensions of the sculptures allow one to look into an intimate space; they owe a debt to the scale and narratives of Medieval art.
These sculptures are part of a continuing series of reimagining symbols of the past about forces of history and nature and creating contemporary sculptural archetypes. They forge a bridge between past icons of art by reimagining them as icons with contemporary relevance. Ideas of transformation, anthropomorphism and myth are implied.
- Jacqueline Shatz‘s work has been included in exhibitions at the June Kelly, Monique Knowlton, and Kouros galleries in New York City, and she has curated and organized many exhibitions, including CollageLogic which was last presented in 2012 at Hampden Gallery at UMass in Amherst. She is a recipient of a NEA Individual Fellowship, a Craft Alliance New Techniques grant and several NYFA SOS grants. She has been artist-in-residence at the Kohler Arts/Industry program, where she created a series of music box sculptures and collaborated on sound and sculptural installations for Glyndor Gallery at Wave Hill and on Governors Island. She had a show at The Garrison Art Center in 2015. Most recently Shatz exhibited at Carter Burden Gallery in 2017. Last spring she was in a three person exhibit at Centotto in Bushwick with Thomas Michelli and Jim Herbert; and was also included in two group shows at David & Schweitzer (Bushwick). Her work was included in the group show “Beasts of Brooklyn” at the Green DoorGallery, curated by Elisa Jensen, as well as “Flowers and Monsters” at Temporary Storage Gallery, curated by Meer Musa. Jacqueline Shatz is a 2018 recipient of a Tree of Life Foundation Individual Artist Grant and a 2020 recipient of the Gottlieb Foundation Grant. She has a BFA in painting and an MFA in sculpture from Hunter College.
- Website: jacquelineshatz.com
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackieshatz/
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