If you are in the Big Apple, check out Elizabeth Jaeger’s show titled Music Stand. The sculptor, painter and most recently, publisher, composes mind-bending figures that always express themselves. The positions, often compromising, are emotional and physical. Twin caught up with the New York artist…

 

The invites for Music Stand, your first solo show in New York, were printed on 5×5 white paper napkins – I loved that. Tell us about the piece currently on display at Eli Ping.

The sculpture at Eli Ping is a tableau of two people engaged in an intimate relationship. The man, fully dressed, lays underneath the nude form of a woman. She holds his face in her hands while they both stare vacantly towards the viewer, as well as the door. His legs graze her rear as he lifts them vertically to support a single sheet of music, but only on Sundays.

Describe the correlation between live music and sculpture? Does the union of these mediums change the viewer’s experience?

Music has always seemed a lot more interesting to attend than art. I was always really jealous of my musician friends and the environments they were able to create at shows. It’s an experience of collectiveness that is super hard to manifest in a brightly lit art gallery. People turn into music zombies and really surrender themselves. With Music Stand, I was really attracted to the idea of walking through the Lower East Side on a hot Sunday and stopping to hear a saxophone play from a basement. You enter the room and find the sculpture.

Your work is highly influenced by the fluidity of human form. What inspires the movement in your work?

I spend a lot of time watching the body language of people around me – my favourite thing is watching couples flirt on the train or at a party. So much is said, even in the movement of a shoulder. A friend once told me when he flirts with a woman, he pinches her. If she lets him do it, he intuitively knows he can sleep with her. I’ve also spent a lot of time watching Yvonne Rainer, Olympic gymnasts and Jamaican dancehall on YouTube.

My most favorite silk painting – a pink one with nude figures in boots – is reminiscent of Platinum Musing, the sculpture featured in teenVAG Issue 2, with its black boots and blonde hair. Describe the influence of aesthetics within your work.

These things are really abstract for me. The hair is a continuation of the form. It expresses a certain aspect of the mood- something in the way it drapes. The color is also influential. Nails are always particular to the overall piece. These are tools that enhance an expression of femininity.

I grew up, tomboyish, in San Francisco. My mother always had a French manicure. She never let me have magazines, she didn’t like how they portrayed young women. My father ripped the cable television out of a wall in middle school because I was glued to it and wouldn’t come to dinner. Femininity has always been something of a mystery to me. It can be manipulative but it can also been sincere and vulnerable. I definitely use a higher voice and tilt my head when I want my boyfriend to do something for me but also when I’ve missed him.

In addition to creating your own work, you co-run publishing group Peradam. Print is very personal- it is concrete evidence of an artist’s story. Who have you worked with recently?

Right now I’m working with Amanda Friedman, Alexis Penny, Chen Chen & Kai Williams and Linda Simpson. All the books are very different. Amanda and I drove out to the beach to film her throwing her painting into the air for a flip book. Alexis is a true and honest storyteller. Chen & Kai are focused designers. Linda is an amazing photographer who has great love for her subjects.

The beauty of print?

I like working with people who inspire me. Making a book is a very intimate and lengthy process, you get to know people in a very honest manner. You work with them usually six months to a year. All of our artists work very differently and it’s been an amazing experience getting to know all of them.

What are you working on this summer?

Right now I’m working on a figure for a show at Interstate that opens July 5th. It’s the darkest piece to date and I’m feeling pretty nervous about it. An art show really feels like taking your clothes off in front of a ton of people you don’t know that well – it’s pretty embarrassing and sometimes exhilarating. The rest of the summer will be an intense hustle to get back on board with our art books and maybe take a nap.

A wise woman once told me _______________________.

“Don’t step on any fingers.”

 

elizabethjaeger.com