ART SPACE
JACK HENRY
Environmental degradation is the key focus of Bushwick-based
artist Jack Henry. His work, which incorporates objects he
collects, includes weeds, cigarette packets, chains, sticks, and
coffee cups, among other commonplace debris. “As we enter the
Anthropocene, there is a growing belief that pristine nature no
longer exists and true wilderness is just a figment of our imagination,”
Henry says. “North Brooklyn is a perfect example of this.
What little natural growth is present lies behind fenced-in empty
lots or the cracks in sidewalks.”
The sculptures he makes, which have been exhibited at Wasserman
Projects in Detroit and the MECA International Art Fair in
San Juan, Puerto Rico, among many other venues, are tactile and
voluminous: dense menageries that critique our treatment of the
natural world.
Henry begins by making rubber molds of what he collects on the
street before making replicas in resin. Then he assembles them,
either as sculptures or within cement frames as a wall relief. “The
forms aren't planned beforehand,” he says. “I don't make preliminary
sketches, but conceptually I know what to expect—one
piece leads to the next.” —Craig Hubert
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Photos by Jack Henry.