FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jo-Ann Brody
Scar Tissue

February 4–March 1, 2014
Reception February 6, 6–8pm

Ceres Gallery is pleased to present Scar Tissue.

Scars are areas of tissue that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of repair. It is a natural part of the healing process. Every wound results in some degree of scarring. Scars represent healing of many sorts – healthy or not. Scars are metaphorically and/or literally explored through the artist’s personal iconography.

The figures explore tissues/issues in Brody’s life; from surgery, illness, being “the good daughter,” from infertility and divorce, from songs, and musings about life, family, and aging come both form and word. The female body serves as Brody’s palette. Mother, wife, old lady, artist, friend – growing older; it’s about (re)evaluating life. The words used are mantras said frequently to allay the clenching in the gut foreshadowing panic.

Recurring elements such as Raku repaired with gold leaving literal marks suggest that broken and glued can be an element of the work itself with all the symbolism implied; pottery’s necessary involvement with inner and outer surface leads into egg/container imagery; books record major upheavals; the binding on the books invoke stitches; and now words appear on torso/figure as well as in the third iteration of wind chime/mobile. Themes include aging, loneliness, fertility, egg, and family. Woman is additionally both incubator and earth mother. The dance of life suggests movement, acceptance and growth. Brody conflates fertility with creativity.

The artist shapes the clay and cement in a sensuous involvement with her media. Envisioned at first as graceful, sensuous, simple figures, as the pieces develop, they warp into other metaphors. Groupings, and combinations, repetition multiply meaning. The clay/cement combination of both modalities creates a stark contrast of texture, scale, color and approach. These figures incorporate the vocabulary of forms and metaphors Brody has developed in the past but in different combinations.