We are delighted to present an exclusive sculpture exhibition featuring works spanning 20 years in wood and flax from Jeff Key’s Vessel Series.
Join us to celebrate the Gallery’s 30th Anniversary on March 1st with a one-day only Pop-Up show of floor, pedestal, and wall works by Oakland artist Jeff Key. RSVP by February 26th .
24 striking sculptures are included in this exclusive online exhibition: 10 floor pieces, 5 pedestal, and 9 wall-hung. About 10 works will be on view during the Pop-Up show on March 1st.
At first approach, Jeff Key’s sculptures seem to be mere assemblages of found wood elements, objects nature created for the artist to play with. But on further contemplation, the human manipulation is revealed in layers: interrogation, reaction and a need to express deeply felt observation of the interaction of humans with life on our planet.
Key, who received an M.F.A from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1972, also has a B.A. in Communications and Public Policy from the University of California at Berkeley and his work illustrates his concerns with anthropology, sociology, psychology and political and physical sciences.
“My work over the past thirty years has focused on “theories of evolution” with allegorical and metaphorical references to the past, present and future”, Key tells us. “In examining questions of evolution, I have taken into consideration aspects of birth and death, rites of passage, war and power, transportation, shelter, food/water sources, communication and the biotechnical revolution.”
We need to view these “Vessels” in their abstracted form, “a cross-cultural, and at times totemic form, which represents human presence and the cycle of life.” Some of the visual metaphors are fairly obvious, as in the work “Vessel #27 -Fusion”, composed of three attached wood circles, perfect other than the interruption on the inner one, as if burnt by the center form of textured flax that evokes natural life, with its nascent energy and quiet force.
Others are more subtle, such as the more minimalistic “Vessel #64 -Once”, with its antler shape and bone-like element, both firmly resting on the ground. They are connected at the other end to a small porthole at eye height for a child who may be looking through the little round window to the future, with hands resting on the archetypal symbols for his or her hunter/gatherer ancestors.
These fantastical contemporary hybrids draw the viewer in, like the sculpture “Vessel #12 –Belly of the Beast”, part ovoïd belly with a linear construction, part blade, part bird and part oar, inviting one to navigate the exciting, yet dangerous waters of life. In “Vessel #32 –Witness”, the only work suitable for an outdoor setting, Key becomes the witness for the decay of a once-grand civilization of builders and travelers.
In addition to the thoughtful aspect of Jeff Key’s sculptures, we are presented with the extraordinary skill of this maker with a talent for helping his interventions disappear behind the sheer beauty of the natural elements of wood and flax skin. Each part blends in perfectly with the next, so the eye rests while the mind is free to imagine.
Jeff Key has now sculpted 86 sculptures in his Vessels Series, from free-standing pieces to pedestal-sized wall-hung works. He plans a book when he completes the 100th Vessel. We are eagerly awaiting it!
