all images: copyright and courtesy Jessica Sanders
Sugar, salt and beeswax – Jessica Sanders, a young artist based in Brooklyn, New York mostly employs organic materials for her collection of cross-genre art works. Time changes the appearance: the materials break or melt, so that the process in itself becomes the final work. Her sculptures and paintings carry a similar aesthetic, that is both, minimal and corporeal. In a short interview Sanders answered us some questions about her artistic process and her interest in material's tactility.
Jessica Sanders: In college, when I found myself in the studio more often than not.
Anna: Even though your work includes paintings, sculptures and installations with very different material, you seem to develop each media with a unique aesthetic that is surprisingly coherent. Where is the connection between these three artistic languages?
Jessica: I approach all of them the same way – material and process considerations first, and format a distant second. I follow the idea and the endpoint presents itself. That same line of thinking through the initial phases of making is what brings paintings, sculptures, and instillations together.
Anna: A striking aspect of your work, especially in three-dimensional pieces, is an abstract reference to organic shapes and to haptic corporeality, or even viscerality. Why do you incorporate these tactile elements in your work and what do they mean to you?
Jessica: I favor tactility because of its directness. I take in what’s around me in a tactile way - I’m a tactile person. It’s the most honest way I know to put things back out into the world.
Anna: Also the material you use, such as bees wax, sugar, salt or hair, stems from an organic origin and often changes its shape during an exhibition: Wax plates break, a salt lick dissolves in water and, most prominently, wax melts. Does this processual aspect of your material refer to its ability to transform and to free it from being a static object?
Jessica: I’m interested in the relationships between materials – Building up, breaking down, yielding, consenting, push back, loss and gain. That intertwines process and materiality, looking for moments of shift. So yes, it looks at a things relative ability or inability to transform, but my end goal isn’t to free it from being a static object. Many ideas lead to a static state through change, and that’s just as interesting.
Anna: When is the most important moment, during the process of your material changing?
Jessica: One moment is no more important than another. It’s the entire course.
Anna: When you start a new work, how do you approach the project?
Jessica: I’m often most attracted to the ephemera happening in the margins of a process or piece. As I work through an idea, I’m always looking for a scrap or spill or break or slump to follow to the next idea. There is generally no beginning or end to an idea or project – one generally just slides or tumbles into the next.
Anna: What inspires you?
Jessica: Everyday interactions
Peeling an orange
Going slow
Flat, wide spaces
Textiles and ceramic wares
Lists
Anna: What is next on your agenda?
Jessica: I will have work in the upcoming show, “Material Images” at Johannes Vogt. It runs from March 6th – April 5th. Also, I have an interactive outdoor instillation opening on May 18th on Randall’s Island, NYC, through FLOW, the park’s annual summer art exhibition series.
-> www.jessicasanders.org
-> www.jessicasanders.org
all images: copyright and courtesy Jessica Sanders