November 5 - 28, 2010
Artist Reception: Friday, November 5th; 8-11 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery II
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667
www.laluzdejesus.com
info@laluzdejesus.com

"Stardust"

Jessica Joslin’s “Hybrids” is a circus of oddities, a mixed-media menagerie of unexpected creatures. A whimsical cat in a red leather harness harness pulls his polycephalic partner along on a wooden cart, blue and brown eyes gleaming mischievously. An exquisite two headed tropical bird with lush brass plumage preens on it's perch. A troupe of monkey-cat hybrids engage in mysterious shenanigans, and truncated half-creatures preside over the festivities.

The creatures that populate Joslin's world are intricate fusions of bone, brass, antique hardware and other bits and bobs. Sparkling glass eyes are inset in kid leather, giving these fanciful hybrids the illusion of life and animation. They seem ready to spring up and play, just as soon as no one is watching. In her work, Joslin celebrates wit, whimsy, ingenuity, insightful curiosity and skill. The finely wrought craftsmanship renders the hand of the maker at once visible (the miniature bolts, springs and joints which comprise anatomical structures are readily discerned) and invisible (there is a keen sense of their unique personalities, and as such, the illusion that they are not constructions, but rather living beings.)

"Clio and Loci"

Joslin grew up collecting flies off the windowsill to look at under her microscope. Ever since, she has been enchanted with collecting a magpie’s array of remnants from the natural world. The collection gradually grew to include obsolete bits of antique mechanical mechanisms, hardware and other oddball artifacts. In 1992, she began building the first beasts of this menagerie, using objects sent in a care package from her father, the same pieces that she’d collected as a child.

 "Clio" detail

Joslin seeks out and puts to use those bright odds and ends that might catch one’s eye in a box full of orphaned fixtures, or glinting up from the sidewalk. While each piece she employs in her eerie animal reliquary is delicately beautiful, it is also the detritus of human engineering and design: old brass buttons and gold braid, glass beads, clockwork cogs and velvet ribbon. Such items are reminiscent of the whimsical technology of a century past, one’s grandparents’ house, the dark interiors of old fashioned movie theatres - and as such they have an intriguing, wistful quality. In other words, Joslin collects the things that all of us secretly want to, the shiny pieces that we might comb through, handle and admire, but ultimately force ourselves to put down.

“Hybrids” is a menagerie of distinctive creations, its frolicsome fauna beckon you to come see the show!
More work may be seen online at: www.jessicajoslin.com