Meet Roxanne Jackson

Buckle up and feast your eyes on today’s artist, ceramist and sculptor Roxanne Jackson. Based in Brooklyn, Jackson’s macabre works are a spectacular twist of dark humor, myth, and kitsch.

We had a chat with the co-founder of the Nasty Women global art exhibition, talking all things ceramics, Cormac McCarthy, and the disruption of traditional art forms. 

SPECIAL SPRING CLOTHING SALE: A Mad Lib by Roxanne Jackson

PADDY has announced that their FURRY clothing store in the heart of downtown CAT-MAN-DOO is having a MANIACAL sale of all merchandise, including BESTIAL suits and slightly irregular FURS. Men's cable-knit CIVETS, only $15.99. Hand-woven Italian KITSCH, half-price. Double-breasted cashmere WITCHES, $50.00. Genuine imported CANTALOUPE DARK shoes, WHIMSICAL handkerchiefs, and women's embroidered BITCHES, all at rock-bottom prices. This is a chance to get some really FERAL bargains!

Would You Rather

Would you rather be hugged by a very sweaty person for too long, or ride an elevator with someone who is farting a lot? Why?

I'd rather be hugged by a sweaty person because I'm not afraid of sweat. In fact, I usually like it. At least pre-Covid ;/

Some questions with Roxanne Jackson

What led you to work with ceramics?

When I was an undergrad student, studying botany, I took a ceramics class after a couple semesters of taking various drawing and painting courses. Nothing thrilled me like the media of clay; once exposed to it, I was addicted and have worked with clay ever since. I think that, in this life, we all just need to find our mediums.

What was the last book you read? Did you like it?

I prefer fiction. I'm currently reading a few books but, I believe the last book I finished was Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Did I 'like' it? Yes. He's one of the most profound writers I've ever read -- these stories are intense and this book took a lot of time for me to finish as I had to process each paragraph. His writing moves freely between brutality and beauty. His writing is descriptive and emotive and imagery from several of his books has inspired my art.

How has music influenced or shaped your practice, if at all?

Of course! Whatever I'm listening to in the studio, leads to a certain rhythm in the studio and in the work, even the color choices I use for glazing. I also listen to lots of podcasts in the studio. For example, whenever I make a Monster Paw, I listen to Sasquatch Chronicles (you should give a listen).

How would you say your work challenges a “Traditional” art form like ceramics?

My work aims to blaze a new path in order to reinvent craft and disrupt historic ceramic sculpture. By approaching ceramics from many different directions, using a variety of materials and techniques, I exploit this medium, question conventional notions of beauty and find beauty in the unexpected. I aim to invent a new mythology by creating uncanny, distorted and psychedelic forms. These metamorphic “mystery objects,” escape a single unified narrative. They are created through an exploration of form, by sculpting mashup compositions, extracting traits from both highbrow and lowbrow culture and maneuvering fire and fluxed glaze. These shapeshifting sculptures evolve and unfurl, revealing gems once hidden. There are collisions of nature and fantasy, the absurd, the playful, the ironic and the grotesque.

In my series Monster Paws, oversized paws/hands are cutesy and chubby, or creepy and gnarly. These beastly claws are always adorned, with excessively manicured nails decorated with French tips, rhinestones, gold luster or glitter. These ostentatious hands hold various items from a crystal shrine to magic mushrooms, or from a spiny shell to a slimy slug. Mouthwatering details of piece of Nigiri sushi, or a slice of partially eaten birthday cake (cherry with chocolate frosting), never looked so tawdry and tempting. And, a once innocent slice of mushroom pizza transmogrifies into the hideous skull of a melting-zombie-pizza face. Furthermore, I reference this exaggerated decor by making utilitarian objects, such as candle holders, to further subvert the traditions of the ceramic medium.

What advice would you give other artists striving to make work in the current climate?

Keep making work. And make work about your obsessions and the things that you love.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

I think especially now, during the new COVID reality, it is important for artists to do the above, to keep making work, as we offer a voice to reflect the time we are living in. And art matters.