OTHER ANIMALS - Christopher St. John

Launching at 10 a.m. Pacific, February 5th

February 5 - 27

Exhibition Walk-through Launching Friday, February 5 at 10am on Instagram @Eutectic_Gallery

On Whimsy

Foraminifera are small marine creatures that create a marvelous array of forms with the calcite shells that cover their soft bodies. From bubbles, spines, tubules, spirals, ridged plateaus and winged kidneys, these small planktonic creatures make a delightfully beautiful array of plastic forms to house their bodies. When I look at these forms, I am reminded of the work I have done with clay the past three years, and my delight in tapping into this infinite expression of form of which clay is capable. I have discovered you really can do anything with this material, and when I see the drawings, paintings, and sculptures that are in this show, I see form impatiently asking me, “what's next?” People have called this work whimsical, and I have been at times angry, annoyed, irritated, exasperated, and finally resigned to the use of this word to describe my particular expression of form. But when I look at the Foraminifera, I don’t have any problem in ascribing the word “whimsy” to their forms. Although each little animal goes about its business of eating and trying not to be eaten and mating and dying in our oceans as they have done for eons, when I look at their forms, there does seem to be a delight in the expression of form, in being alive. It isn’t my intention that my work be “whimsical” or anything for that matter. I am moved to create it, and really how people are moved and respond to the work isn’t my business so much. I can simply be grateful that this odd collection of forms moves people the way it does, and reminds people of the unique strangeness of being alive.