OTHER MATTERS:
SOPHIE LARRIMORE &
JERRY THE MARBLE FAUN
FEBRUARY 6 - MARCH 28, 2021
Installation view: Other Matters: Sophie Larrimore & Jerry the Marble Faun, SITUATIONS, New York, 2021.
SITUATIONS is pleased to announce Other Matters: Sophie Larrimore and Jerry the Marble Faun, an exhibition of new paintings by Sophie Larrimore and stone sculptures by Jerry the Marble Faun. Both artists present a trace of the hand, composing visceral figures in and of the landscape. Larrimore’s poodles and female figures lounge amongst sculpted topiaries, created via expressionistic marks similar to the surface treatment left by Jerry’s hammer. Jerry adds layers by adding natural pigments and propagating moss on the surface of his sculptures, yet the underlying chisel marks mirror the repeating strokes of Larrimore’s brush. Her painted scenes evolve as she navigates color, and fuses pattern with form. Through each artists’ use of divergent materials, unique positions emerge from formalized imagination, stylized figures, and play with garden motifs.
Jerry the Marble Faun presents a suite of works that include mature iterations of sculpted creatures and animals alongside two abstract pieces. Taking cues from lived experience, such as driving a New York taxi for 25 years, and living with Big and Little Edie at Grey Gardens, his sculpting process relies on a freeform method. Jerry follows the chance of a stone’s natural properties to define each element, giving rise to a style that is at once rigorous and intuitive.
Larrimore’s painted scenes of dogs and reclining nudes evolve from an unmapped painting process, one based on balancing color, pattern, and form. She mines her internal visual archives rather than seeking outside source material. Tension lies between the flat maze-like expanses and illusionistic space. Though not preconceived, every part of her painting is considered in relation to the whole. From distinctive mark-making to fresh color combinations, all of these elements instinctively converge before a work is finally resolved. On view is a combination of large unstretched, tapestry-style works, and a smaller series contained within stretched frames.
SOPHIE LARRIMORE (b. 1980, Annapolis, Maryland) currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and holds a BFA from The Cooper Union, NY. Recent exhibitions include Grifter, New York; 0-0LA, Los Angeles; Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY; Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; J. Hammond Projects, London, UK; Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA. Larrimore was a Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant Nominee and a Keyholder Artist-in-Residence at the Lower East Side Printshop.
JERRY THE MARBLE FAUN (born 1955, Brooklyn, NY) lives and works in Queens, NY. He began hand-carving stone in 1987 and also works in ceramic sculpture. Jerry has appeared in exhibitions at SITUATIONS, New York; Canada, New York; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; 2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco; The Elaine de Kooning House, South Hampton; Geary Contemporary, New York; Bureau of General Services/Queer Division, New York; and Jackie Klempay Gallery, Brooklyn; amongst others. He has been a resident at The Shandaken Project, Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY. Jerry is well known as the Bouvier-Beales’ handyman from the Maysles brothers’ 1975 documentary Grey Gardens. While living at Grey Gardens, Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier-Beale gave Jerry the nickname “the Marble Faun,” which Jerry accepted as a fated path to art-making. In addition to sculpting stone, Jerry worked as a gardener for the royal family of Saudi Arabia, with Wayland Flowers and his puppet, Madame, during their cabaret acts in the ’70s, and as a New York City taxi cab driver. Jerry’s autobiography, The Marble Faun of Grey Gardens, was published and released in 2018.
