NYAB Event - Katie Klencheski and Jude Hughes Exhibition

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At A.M. Richard Fine Art
Media: Drawing, Sculpture

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A.M. Richard Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of works of art by Jude Hughes (sculpture) and Katie Klencheski (works on paper).

...Soon We Will Grow Wings - a title borrowed from Henry Miller's Order and Chaos (1966)- brings together three intricately conceived automated sculptures by Jude Hughes. Taken individually or seen as a cohesive group, each work addresses issues of history, migratory movements, trade, memory and material resources.

The three sculptures presented are multi-layered. Each is tied to the iconography of design structure and to the idea of the divide between secular and ecclesiastical worship. Additionally, the works address concepts of travel: travel as it is experienced in a daily work-related routine, and as a conduit to inner escapism as induced by recreational drugs. Each are reminders of a civilization past and the present evolving "home" i.e. the artist's geographical habitat, Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The primary materials used by the artist in carving, casting and construction are significant for they were not randomly picked, harvested or recycled. The materials were collected almost ritually, during routine migratory routes. They were specifically chosen for their link to history culled from the artist's family as well as that of his neighborhood, its inhabitants, traditions, commerce and culture.

The mechanical nature of the Hughes pieces require participation. Once activation is triggered, the viewer engages in questioning form, function and symbolism of the work and its various components. The perceived ordinary is morphed into the actual remarkable.

Mr. Hughes's works are of exquisite craftsmanship and whimsy; each invite profound contemplation and offer subtle beauty.

The work entitled Reliquary for Matthew Benedict, is a coin operated arm-shaped feretory housing a radius bone relic purported to be that of painter Ralph Blakelock (1847-1919). The idea for the reliquary stemmed from a conversation between the artists Hughes and Benedict. Mr. Benedict, fascinated by Blakelock, recalled to Mr. Hughes, has having had, one late night, a vision of the late artist in his studio. Never one to let a delicious anecdote slip his mind, Mr. Hughes decided to build a reliquary for Mr. Benedict. The base of the shrine encloses a lone datura seedpod -a familiar sight on the Brooklyn waterfront- which vessels hallucinogenic and poisonous properties. When fed coins, the pod is electrically illuminated. The mechanics of the sculpture dispenses single seed pill that gently fall into a cut-work silver communion cup. Should Mr. Benedict have the urgency to be visited by Blakelock again, he could simply turn to the reliquary, place a coin in its slot, watch it light, sip a datura seed infusion and wait for the apparition. Simply put, this piece is a tribute to Blakelock, a memorial to the interest that Mr. Benedict confers on the late artist, and a legacy to the friendship shared by the two artists (Hughes/Benedict).

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