JOHN GRADE
Cleave

Publications:

JOHN GRADE
Sculpture and Drawings

For this exhibition, John Grade extensively transformed Davidson Contemporary into a monumental installation titled Cleave. The configuration and structure of the piece subtly emulate narrow passageways found in the landscape such as the slot canyons of Escalante in Utah and the crevassed glaciers of Mount Rainier. The natural process of forming these sites through ice scraping and gouging rock is reflected in the artist’s working sculptural practice. Cleave is constructed from clay, goat fur, and resin and underwent various stages of drying, curing, and erosion. The viewer experiences an artificial environment mimicking the natural phenomenon of moving water as it forms landscape.

Another installation titled Ring continued Grade’s investigation of nature on microscopic and macroscopic levels in an intimate setting. The viewer entered an enclosed circular chamber where a semi-translucent band of resin and clay became alternately illuminated from behind and inside the space. The bands found within the chamber refer to the science of dendrochronology while the cellular patterning connects to an experiment in which the artist viewed a section of finely shaved bristlecone under a microscope.

Also exhibited were a series of drawings created in Seattle, California, Ireland, and Uganda. A talented draughtsman, Grade’s drawings are a revelation to those who only know his sculpture. In these works, Grade investigates many of the same concerns addressed in his installations – light diffused through water or the detail of an organic surface, for instance. Several of these works are the beginnings of ideas for his next body of small-scale sculptures inspired by his trip to Africa living with the Karamajong people in Uganda.

(above) Cleave detail

(left)
Installation view:
Cleave, 2006
cast resin grafted with goat hair and
clay, video projections,
11ft x 16ft x 45ft

Installation view
Ring
dimensions variable

Between Turf Face and Demesne Wall
2005
charcoal on paper, 42 x 99

$3400

Causeway, 2005
charcoal on paper, 59 x 85 inches

$3200

Trace, (Water) 2006
graphite on paper, 30 x 45 inches

SOLD

North, 2005
charcoal on paper, 42 x 59 inches

SOLD

Dun, 2005
charcoal on paper 42 x 59 inches

SOLD

Cleave, 2006
graphite on paper, 13 x 20 inches

SOLD

Cleave, 2006 (detail_

Cleave, (Aerial) 2006
graphite on paper, 10 x 12 inches

SOLD

Bog I, 2005
graphite on paper, 4 x 6.5 inches

SOLD

Peat, 2006
graphite on paper, 3 x 6.5 inches
SOLD

Bog II, 2005
graphite on paper, 4 x 8.5 inches

SOLD

O, 2006
graphite on paper, 4.5 x 7.5 inches

SOLD

North Atlantic, 2005
graphite on paper, 4 x 5.5 inches

SOLD

Trench, 2006
graphite on paper, 3 x 4.5 inches

SOLD

Karamoja, 2006
graphite on paper, 3 x 4.5 inches

SOLD

Sunken Fosse of Her Spine, 2006
graphite on paper, 3 x 7.5 inches

SOLD

Midden, 2005
graphite on paper, 3.5 x 5 inches

SOLD

Core 2002,
wood/paper, rubber, resin
19 x 21 x 18

$8,000

Trait, 2004,
paper and resin, 5 1/2 x 6 x 5 inches

$ 1,500

Jaw, 2002
plaster, soap, 24 x 24 x 24

SOLD

Caudex Studies, 2004,
wood and resin, 8 x 3 x 3 inches each

SOLD

Greve Inside, 2000
resin,steel, 46 x 6 x 5

$3,000

Lift (Breathing in Two Parts), 2004,
resin and fur, 17 x 7 x 5 inches

$ 2,800 (dimmer separate)

Blind, 2004,
resin and fur, 16 x 4 x 4 inches

$ 1,800

Wash Plane, 2004,
paper and resin, 14 x 5 x 11 inches

$ 1,600

Leave, 2004, paper,
13 x 16 x 8 inches

$ 2,800

Shear (Lift), 2004,
charcoal on paper and wood, 14 x 20 inches

$ 1,200

Rind (Flood Route), 2003,
electro-chrom-plated cast brass, 26 x 24 x 11 in

SOLD

Rift, 2003,
resin and wood, 28 x 11 x 7 inches

$6,000

Cuffs, 2003,
cast iron, resin and fur, 8 x 9 x 4 inches

SOLD

Silt (Two Places), 2003,
resin, clay and wood, 50 x 21 x 6 in

SOLD

Swell, 2003,
resin and fur, 36 x 34 x 8 inches

SOLD

Shoal (Bone Shoal Sonance), 2003,
wood, 40 x 29 x 13 inches

SOLD

Shoal Interior, 2003,
rubber and wood, 11 x 11 x 4 inches

$2,400

Tonsure, 2003,
wood, rubber and cast iron, 16 x 14 x 4 inches

$2,500