By Elizabeth Jordan
Located in New York, NY
Jordan’s work has a Grimm’s fairy tale quality, using found and seemingly everyday objects her work will take you into her otherworldly reality.
‘Spending a lot of time alone I practice telling stories of events that stick with me. Repeating them to myself is like sharing them with a make-believe friend. Sometimes what happened in the story was ironic, silly, cruel, sad, lovely, eye-catching, or monotonous. It could be frustrating or amusing. But I can’t get them out of my mind, so they must be meaningful. It’s a way I change the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Weird phrases and names; photographing dead things, newspaper clippings, fairy tales; horror films from the fifties and sixties; ghost stories; animals, birds and insects behaving like people; fables; store mannequins; odd found objects, religious symbols and homemade signs interest me. I am an eyewitness to the world.
While appearing both ominous and timid, these works, like me, are introspective observers of the world. They mimic the strengths and weaknesses of my personality by appearing cautious and bold. When I relinquish control and let my day dreams take over, they become forms whose species are hard to pinpoint. Working without restraints allows them to lead me to unpredictable places. At times, a single creature, bound awkwardly to its environment, looks either tortured or safely secure. Their mysterious appearances demonstrate how obsessive processes and multiple materials can both inspire and alter meanings, and are a reminder of the ephemeral and transitory nature of our existence.’
I’ve created sculptures of creatures that have a request: please pay attention to their gestures, positions, cuts and scars. Through them they portray animals living in a human world. Their appearance tells of how their souls ultimately surrender to the inevitable, and why their stories may or may not have a happy ending.’ - Elizabeth Jordan
Elizabeth Jordan is an emerging artist working primarily in sculpture. Her work uses multiple materials to produce unique, organic forms. In early 2016, she participated in an exhibition at the Cornell Art Museum in Delray Beach, where her on-going work titled “The Lives of Birds” was installed. After living in NYC for 30 years, she currently resides and has a studio in Bayonne, NJ. with her husband Chris Hanson...
Category
2010s Contemporary Wire Mixed Media
