The Swimmer

2012 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

7.75H x 13W x 4.75D inches

Jeffry Mitchell

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Though the title might suggest an Adonis, Jeffry Mitchell’s The Swimmer (2012) is a squat, jolly man with a protuberant belly. The stocky figure lets his arm drop to his side, towel dripping on the ground. Mitchell’s umber-toned glaze makes everything look earthy and wet, primordial and warm.

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The Seattle-based sculptor Jeffry Mitchell creates cartoonlike creatures from low-fire earthenware. Their sympathetic expressions and modest size, combined with Mitchell’s style of globular, additive assembly, makes them seem accessible and charming, as if they want to be held. They are reminiscent of characters from Peanuts or The Flintstones , but they also draw on art historical tropes as potent and ancient as sex and religion. Beneath their unassuming facades they harbor a generous heap of musing, tongue-in-cheek critique.

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Colors:

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• swimmer.n.02
• aboriginal.s.03
• squat.s.02
• glaze.n.01
• wet.a.01
• earthenware.n.01
• abstract versus figurative art
• animals
• biomorphic
• ceramic