Jim Condron: Collected Things
Sculptures from the Collected Items of Artists, Writers and Thinkers
May 20 - June 24, 2023
Opening Reception: May 20, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Open to the public
Wednesday - Saturday 12-5 pm
“Collected Things” presents over forty sculptural works by Jim Condron and opens May 20th with a reception from 5-9 pm. Many of the pieces are constructed of personal items and ephemeral materials collected by Condron that once belonged to artists, writers, and thinkers such as Grace Hartigan, Graham Nickson, Lucy Sante, Rebecca Hoffberger, Carl E. Hazlewood and Cordy Ryman. The work explores thing theory. The genealogy of the use of objects gives them vitality and historical force. Everyday objects become something new as they collide and converse with other things through Condron’s engagement with them. Condron will also exhibit works made from collected things whose origins and ownership are anonymous. Condron’s work expresses humor, absurdity and beauty through the combination and interaction of quotidian objects, castoff remnants and paint. Some pieces are titled with a textual fragment from literature or from a bit of conversation that adds to the work’s rhetoric rather than naming or defining it.
Grace Hartigan’s Things, 2022-23
Grace Hartigan’s Crocs, paint stick and pillow, antique chair, steel
35 x 45 x 35 inches
Condron incorporated the pioneering painter Grace Hartigan’s pair of bright pink Crocs into his poignant sculpture. These were the last pair of shoes Hartigan wore while she was painting. The work also includes a paint stick Hartigan used to mix paint and thinner for one of her final paintings, and her pillow, which is reminiscent of Matisse’s cut-outs. Matisse was a lifelong inspiration for Hartigan. Condron based the composition of the sculpture on Phillip Guston’s painting Cellar of 1970.
Carl Hazlewood’s Things, 2023
Oil, acrylic, plaster, paper, plastic, cotton, wood, steel
10 x 8 x 7 inches
In this piece, detritus from Carl E. Hazlewood’s studio is made into a trophy-like object. Condron added a base of steel and plaster to remnants from Hazlewood’s own projects that include acrylic skin from the inside of a paint mixing bowl, hot pink thread, a red painted stick, plastic fencing, a crumpled ball of tinfoil, and a plastic fork. Through the sculpture, Condron expresses the humor and generosity of Hazlewood.
Sangram Majumdar’s Things, 2022-23
Sangram Majumdar’s paint brushes and brayers, oil, wood, ceramic
17 x 26 x 10 inches
Condron used fragments of ceramic and china that fell from the kitchen shelf in his home to cradle Sangram Majumdar’s brushes and brayers. Remnants of wood painted copper green (verdigris) from a nineteenth-century home also acts as a support. The plaster hand and paint were applied to the brushes to reference Majumdar’s work and interest in Indian miniature paintings.
About the Artist:
Originally from Long Island, NY, Jim Condron lives and works in Baltimore, MD and Brooklyn, NY. Condron earned his MFA at the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BA in Art and English from Colby College, Waterville, ME. He also studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. His work appears nationally and internationally in galleries and museums as well as in corporate, university, public and private collections.
