Statement

My work blazes a new path to reinvent craft and disrupt historic ceramic sculpture. By approaching ceramics from many different directions, using a variety of materials and techniques, I exploit this medium; I question conventional notions of beauty and utility — while finding beauty in the unexpected. Often drawing from traditional and functional objects — such as vases, lamps and candle holders, I imbue these sculptures with my distorted mythology. Birthed from this uncanny lore, these metamorphic and psychedelic “mystery objects” escape a single unified narrative. They are created through an exploration of form, by sculpting mashup compositions, extracting traits from both highbrow and lowbrow culture and maneuvering heat and fluxed glaze. There are collisions of nature and fantasy, utility and absurdity, the playful, the ironic and the grotesque.

These sculptures are created through a series of ceramic practices that mimic geology, as clay morphs from a malleable material into a hard one. The firing process, adding an element of heat, further parallels metamorphic rock formation. Glaze is applied and fired, melting and crystallizing onto the surface, like igneous rock. Deviant forms are reinforced by vibrant, lustrous glazes — achieved through layering surfaces and multiple kiln firings. This sublime relationship between the natural world and ceramics has informed the imagery of my sculptures; these shapeshifting forms evolve and unfurl, revealing gems once hidden. Conglomerate-like animal heads are cut in half to reference a geode. They transform into something else — like a head that petrifies and crystallizes over time, morphing into a mineral, a fossil or a pearl. The interiors of these flayed heads are an amalgamation of decorative elements, geometric shapes and alien-like textures; they seem otherworldly.

In my series 'Monster Paws,’ these mammoth hands are separated from their bodies; absent is the rest of the figure and with no head in sight, the viewer is forced to imagine the rest — perhaps the paw belonged to a Sasquatch, a giant mermaid, or some unnamable beast? These monstrous claws reek of civilization with their excessively manicured nails — French tips, rhinestone-encrusted, gold-lustered or glittery. Like the tempting hand of a witch holding a juicy apply, these paws draw their subject closer with enchanted objects like a slug, a handful of magic mushrooms, or a slice of partially eaten birthday cake.

Bio

Roxanne Jackson is a ceramic artist and sculptor living in Brooklyn, NY. Her macabre works are black-humored investigations of the links between transformation, myth and pop-culture. Press for her work includes The New York Times, The New Yorker, The LA Times, Juxtapoz Magazine, Hyperallergic, Forbes, Metal Magazine, The Huffington Post, Artnet, The Observer, Gothamist, Whitehot Magazine, Beautiful Decay, Cool Hunting and Ceramics Monthly, among others. She is the recipient of residencies at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park (Japan), the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (NE), Socrates Sculpture Park (NY), Wassaic Project (NY), PLOP (UK), Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts (ME), the Ceramic Center of Berlin (Germany), funded by a Jerome Project Grant, and the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen (China), funded by an NCECA fellowship. Jackson has exhibited widely, showing her work in exhibitions at DUVE Berlin Gallery (Germany), Cob Gallery (London), Anonymous Gallery (Mexico City), Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami), Garis and Hahn (LA), Kunstraum Niederösterreich (Vienna) and Untitled Art Fair (Miami Beach) with Richard Heller Gallery. She has recently shown her work in New York City at venues including The Hole, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Ortega y Gasset Projects, SARDINE, Underdonk, Honey Ramka, Regina Rex, Dinner Gallery and SPRING/BREAK Art Fair. She recently had works in the exhibition “Friends and Friends of Friends” at the Schlossmuseum in Linz, Austria, and “Double Vision” - a two person show at The Hole. Jackson recently had several works on view in Design Miami and Untitled Art Fair, in Miami Beach, Florida (2021). She looks forward to a solo show at The Hole this fall (2022).

CV

Download CV