I went to the National Portrait Gallery’s recent exhibition Truth and Likeness because it had one of Sam Jinks’ sculptures on display, one of his son as a very new baby. It’s lovely, and wonderfully detailed, but disquieting at the same time, because its larger-than-life scale acts against the usual instinct to coo over a tiny new born. I also felt an implication – something about the eyes – that this little boy, like all babies, was a secret package, a whole strong personality present in there, just waiting to emerge and be discovered by others over time. I liked that.
Sam Jinks is the artist whom Patricia Piccinini collaborated with to make some of her sculptures, such as The Young Family, but his name has been less well known in the past. It’s cool that he is now exhibiting in his own right. An exhibition of his recent work opens at the Boutwell Draper Gallery in Sydney this week, and you can see some work-in-progress making pictures at that link.
From previous exhibitions:
West Space Inc: 2005 photos
Sam Jinks, Distortions: review of his 2005 West Space exhibition
Carnal Knowledge: about Jinks, and how he thinks about his sculptures
J Arts Crew:: Sculpting the body
