For artist Roxanne Jackson, Something creepy this way comes
Roxanne Jackson, "White Diamond"
Sculptor and visual artist Roxanne Jackson has built a career out of facing down things that go bump in the night. Jackson's strange ceramic hybrids of animals and humans capture a vivid imagination at work, challenging the nature of fear, facing down beasts, and attempting to find beauty. A transplant from Portland, Ore., Jackson opens her first solo show in Minneapolis, We Believe In Something, Aug. 27 in the Minneapolis Institute Of Arts' Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program Gallery, with an opening reception at 7 p.m. The A.V. Club spoke with Jackson in her studio as she finished preparing her delicate pieces for the exhibit.
Roxanne Jackson, "Pakyderm"The A.V. Club: How do you start thinking about your pieces?
Roxanne Jackson: My process is really intuitive. I usually start with a vague idea about something, and clay is a material that is really conducive to that process or way of working. And it just so happens that dark or edgy, or whatever you want to call, it is the natural aesthetic that’s in my work. It’s been there for a really long time, since I drew when I was little. So it’s important for me not to ignore that or censor that. I think it’s important to embrace that and be excited about it, without judgment. I think in Western society, we’re taught to polarize things, and we only want to look at things that are comfortable or healthy. Not doing that is helpful, or liberating.
AVC: Aesthetically, though, your work also aims for something really seductive and pleasing, with a high degree of realism.
RJ: I want to draw people in, and I want people to look at things. If I am making something that has a luscious, vibrant surface, then maybe they are going to want to get close. I like that paradigm that happens where something is attractive and repulsive. I think there’s an interesting tension and charge in the work.
Roxanne Jackson, "Devouring Mother"AVC: A lot of the human heads in your body of work are male. Why is that?
RJ: Yeah, I guess they are male heads. I’m not really consciously trying to make male heads, but one of the things I am consciously trying not to do is to make female heads, just because I am a female artist, and I don’t want the work to be about gender. That’s just something I’m not that interested in. I am sure it is in there, but I would rather have it be about human issues. And these wig pieces [such as "Devouring Mother," seen at right], they are a lot more feminine, aren’t they?
AVC: They are. Why did you move to wigs?
RJ: I’m trying to find ways to work with ceramic so that it’s not just about the ceramic material. Ceramic has a tradition that’s everything is archival. It’s glazed, it’s supposed to last forever. It’s very unorthodox to flock something, or glue fur on it or put a hoodie on it or put a wig on it, so I am interested in pushing the envelope with that so that it is not just a ceramic conversation. I was just thinking about the material and I wanted to use fur and hair, also because that is a signifier of the human versus the animal. Hair [and] fur relates humans and animals, but is also the difference that sets us apart.
AVC: You use lots of animals in you work: hyenas, elephants, sheep, buffalo. Are you consciously using animals with specific associations or mythologies?
Roxanne Jackson, "Lyuba Twins"RJ: The buffalo head ["White Diamond," above] is definitely a white buffalo head. I think it is interesting folklore and belief, symbolizing a coming of positive change or a sign of hope—and I think it is really ironic. I am not just trying to reference Native American mythology, but I think based on the history with colonialism, it is ironic because the animals were practically annihilated, so it wasn’t a coming of hope. Or maybe it was, but we can’t see it right now. And [regarding "Lyuba Twins," seen at right], you’re the fourth person to call them sheep, so I guess they must be sheep. I looked at a lot of animals to model these, so these are just the idea of an animal. I’m thinking of them as maybe be dead, maybe they’ve just been born, maybe they’re alive, maybe they’re stillborn. I’m hoping that’s not really obvious where they exist. I’m hoping they ride the line between being frightening but also beautiful.
