Thanks to LA LOUVER for providing us with the gorgeously-designed and updated Ben Jackel catalog. If you are already a member, view the catalog, or begin your 30-day free trial.
GRANDPA’S KNUCKLE DUSTERS (BRONZE), 2014, bronze. 42 x 70 x 8 in. (106.7 x 177.8 x 20.3 cm) Pedestal: 29 x 57 x 27 in. (73.7 x 144.8 x 68.6 cm).
Ben Jackel
Los Angeles: LA Louver, 2017
90 Pages
This catalog spans Jackel’s career from 2002-2017. We can’t help but swoon his iron clad ceramics, smooth chocolate brown porcelain surfaces, and dark humor. He mimics household and military hardware with clay to tell personal stories and military history; such is the case with USS Iowa:
“Located in San Pedro, CA on the L.A. Waterfront, the USS Iowa is a de-commissioned American battleship that was deployed during World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Since July 2012, it has served as a museum and remains the only battleship on the West Coast open to the public.”
THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY, 2016, stoneware, ebony and copper, dimensions variable. PILAR, 2017, stoneware, ebony, copper, 14 x 4 in. (35.6 x 10.2 cm).
Some of his collections are accompanied by personal narrative:
“Several years ago, I became aware that the father of my Uncle Dave, John A. Gomolka, had been involved in the amphibious assault on the Island of Attu in May of 1943. I discovered this fact when Uncle Dave handed down to me a collection of artifacts that his dad had carried with him or recovered from that battlefield. One of these objects was an old set of brass knuckles….
This object had been designed to interface with my hand; the connection I felt to it had been planned by its maker back in the ’30s or ’40s. This tool — this weapon — when worn, augmented the abilities of its user by adding strength and power.”
Jacket went on to create monumental-sized sculptural Brass Knuckles.
Ben Jackel, TR, TEDDY ROOSEVELT, 2017, stoneware, walnut, beeswax, 43 x 35 x 21 in. (109.2 x 88.9 x 53.3 cm)
The 2017 work added to this catalog is political in nature. In his 2017 show at LA Louver “Reign of Fire” Jackel weaves political and military history around and straight through contemporary political circumstances. This bust of Teddy Roosevelt with his mouth open is speaking to us, to our current political minds. In another piece, Jackel juxtaposes White House and Mar-A-Lago with side-by-side birds’ eye views.
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