i borrow my comparisons from clay, being clay myself
CURATED BY SARAH HUMMEL JONES
NOVEMBER 8TH - DECEMBER 20TH, 2019
“I borrow my comparisons from clay, being clay myself” features work by Sarah Hummel Jones and Erik Daniel White and forefonts clay as an exploratory medium through which conventional definitions of commodity are simultaneously reinforced and reshaped. By manipulating clay’s material potential to assume varying degrees of malleability, divisibility, and durability, both artists acknowledge its commodifiable utility, while at the same time, embracing processes and means of exchange that stride deliberately toward a post-commodity future in which the currency of information supplants the value of objects.
Sarah Hummel Jones uses clay to create stacks and clusters of colorfully glazed ceramic gas station donuts, pizza slices, and chocolate chip cookies in large-scale installations that comprise a vast pick and mix of multiples. The fact that most of these objects when exhibited are virtually interchangeable in an indiscriminate “cash and carry” mode of exchange, underscores her accelerationist pursuit of commodity fetishism and relentless drive to escalate modes of production and consumption until they collapse under the weight of bigger, faster, better, and more.
Similarly preoccupied with economies of excess, Erik Daniel White’s paintings present depictions of lumpy edged dollar bills, faded bouquets, and peace signs. White hastily molds these objects and symbols in never-dry clay before transposing them onto the surface of the canvas. He makes malleability intrinsic to the work by intentionally rendering each imprint and every impression. Together they form a visual lexicon rife with allusions to political pitfalls, economic instability, and national shortcomings.
This exhibition was presented with the support of the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.
Installation Images
About the Artists
Sarah Hummel Jones: Sarah Hummel Jones is originally from Indiana. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, OH. After graduation Jones moved to Chicago, IL where she attended The School of the Art Institute Chicago for a year and received a Post Baccalaureate in Ceramics. Jones received a Masters of Fine Art in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2014 and shortly after graduation, moved to Brooklyn, NY and worked as a ceramic technician & assistant. Sarah Hummel Jones has been living in Omaha for past 4 years and works at the Union for Contemporary Art as the Co-Op Studio Manager.
Erik Daniel White: Erik was born in 1988 in Salt Lake City, UT. He received his B.S. in Art Practices from Portland State University in 2013 in Portland, OR. While at PSU he received the Lucille Welch Endowed Scholarship based off his artistic accomplishments. After he graduated undergrad he helped curate several pop-up art exhibitions in Oregon. He received an MFA in Painting from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in May 2019. While at UNL he received the Trickey Memorial Fellowship, Wendy Bantam Exhibition Award, Hixson-Lied Fellowship, Edgren Fellowship, Kimmel Fellowship, the Francis William Vreeland Award, and a Hixson-Lied Student Presentation Grant for a group exhibition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin which showcased up and coming artists living in the Midwest. Erik has recently been awarded an artist residency for the month of March in the upcoming year at Arteles Creative Center in Haukijärvi, Finland.