Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999 Page: 56
60 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Meredith Jack
WEEKEND GALLERY
HOUSTON
by Michelle O'MichaelMeredith Jack's work is a sophisticated turn
on! Antiquities depict evidence of admiration
for the human form. African and South
American artifacts are ripe with effigies to
encourage fertility. Mankind's continuous
fascination with the sensual image is validated
by anthropology. By metaphor and technique,
Jack injects invigorating sensuality into the
current sculptural genre.
Jack's recent sculptures were one of the
last exhibitions at Weekend Gallery, Houston.
His work is contemporary, crafted from twen-
tieth-century materials, and executed with a
refinement suited to most audiences and envi-
ronments. The forms do not come with
"Maxwell's silver hammer" nor sappy cliches,
but with messages conveyed by the finesse of
his craftsmanship. They are representational,
with dignity instead of sentimentality as is
Meredith Jack
Ghost Sickness, 1998
Cast bronze, 14" x 8.5" x 13"
Photo: Courtesy of the Artist
56 ARTLIES SUMMER 1999sometimes present in cultural fetishes. There is
a high degree of visual pleasure in his designs
and none of the misogynistic sexuality of
many surrealists or abstract expressionists (e.g.,
Ernst, Magritte, Pollock). Jack expresses pre-
industrial emotional stases with the apex of
industrial techniques.
In each of his bodies of work, Meredith
Jack's iconography is bold and personal. The
work at Weekend Gallery is amusing and
engaging. Jack interprets an article from The
New York Times in which Daniel Goleman
discussed how culture effects psychiatric labels.
The titles of Jack's sculptures refer to non-
Freudian forms of insanity. Some of the
nomenclature is incorporated in our language,
e.g., "amok", a Malaysian malady with the end
symptom of violent outburst. The disorder
"Sen-k'uei", is indicated by anxiety or panic
with bodily complaints attributed to the "life-
threatening loss of semen". (Jack's interpreta-
tions frequently make males cringe.) Jack
depicts Sen-k'uei as a knotted phallus on a plat-
form which reads as an uncomfortable bed.
The message is subtle. One unaccustomed to
reading symbolism might miss the essence
disguised in these shapes. This
metaphorical work engages the
viewers' participation to interpret
emotional states. Jack expresses
mental states of loss of control with
the contrast of smooth surfaces and
with forms controlled by orderly
designs. The pedestal-sized works
are exemplary horizontal designs,
including a work which arcs from
one pedestal to another. The
welded, totem-like floor-pieces are
free-standing. They are five to six
feet tall with no traditional refer-
ence such as masks or animal
renderings. They contain inter-
esting extensions, expertly
connected by smoothly ground
welds. Amok is a disk, topped by a
horizontal cylinder with a tall 3"
square tube at about two feet. The
square tube changes to a tapered
triangle which angles to the side
about fifteen degrees. There are seven round
spikes aggressively pointing toward the floor. It
gracefully suggests violence. The fabrication
does not intrude into the design resulting in
tactile sensuality. In addition to the phallic
nature of several of these works, such as Susto(soul loss), he successfully combines industrial
shapes into expressive forms.
Jack sees himself as a welder. The consis-
tent quality of his works demonstrates his
expertise and skill in a multiplicity of tech-
niques. In this show there were about twenty-
five pedestal-sized, cast pieces. Many would
translate nicely into monumental works. Koro
is a horizontal arch with protrusions. In large
scale, it would have the feel of a Richard Serra.
The smaller-sized works, Qui-Gong and Ghost
Sickness achieve an elegant design of geometric
shapes, distinctively unlike the bland style of
David Smith. These pieces have simplicity well
suited for monumentality, approachable by
innocents as well as the intelligentsia. Jack is
unafraid of the furnace for casting metals. This
is his chosen method. He jokes that it is
possibly an acceptable outlet for latent-adoles-
cent pyromania. His reputation in academia is
as a ferris foundryman although he has taught
more ceramics than any subject. His back-
ground in ceramics includes building kilns and
furnaces, additional facets of his expansive
skills as a 3-dimensional artist.
One of the approaches by which Jack
derives his forms is a process he compares to
"graded sieves". He accumulates materials,
shapes and forms which he "sifts" intellectu-
ally and emotionally until the design emerges.
Some works are sculpted as foam models,
then cast.
A mature artist whose designs are based
on classical principles, Jack is not limited to a
signature style or material. His mastery of
many techniques demonstrates a universality
which surpasses the purely physical. He states
that process has never been a problem for
him. He uses bronze, cast iron, steel,
aluminum and combinations thereof. His
work displays great expertise with patinas,
which he describes as using "kitchen chemi-
cals", though most kitchen workers would not
consider "flowers of sulfur" or "cupric nitrate"
as typical or common kitchen terms. Nor
would the average chef know how to apply
reducing-flame heat to produce a luxuriant
green patina on metal.
Jack has never been intimidated by nor
secretive about his methodology. His philos-
ophy as an artist and professor is one of
sharing information. "The work does not
depend on technique, it depends on the
image. Art is the image." He makes the
viewing a turn on! O
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Lightman, Victoria H. Art Lies, Volume 23, Summer 1999, periodical, 1999; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth228053/m1/58/?q=%22Bryant%2C+John%22: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .