N u d e I F (D e lila h )
photo Josh Miller
( M a y u k o ’s D a m selfly
photo Jeremy Mayer / Ceramics photojohn Bonath
O n O u r R a d a r
R e d u c e , R e u s e ,
R
e i n v e n t
S h o w s t o S e e
Nude IV(D elilah),
2009,
typewriter parts,
36 x32 x66 m.
didn’t want to see wired-on, ex-
traneous materials,” he says. “I
wanted a cleanness of assembly.”
He also didn’t want to strip away
scratches and dirt—almost liter-
ally, the human fingerprints—to
prepare pieces for those odier
modes of construction. Those
blemishes draw people in, he
says. Like names carved into a
tree, they’re the proof that some-
one was there—using a typewrit-
er, putting their hands on it.
As he has honed his unusual
craft, two anatomy books have
been his constant, grease-stained
companions. Mayer has assem-
bled busts, body parts and full
human figures, as well as various
animals and insects.
C a tX
recoils
in an exaggerated hiss. His latest,
Deer III,
stands on spindly legs
with a brightly cocked head.
There’s so much vitality here it’s
strangely easy to forget that
his creatures began their lives
as machines.
Mayer finds the distinction
irrelevant. Everything in the
world, natural or human-made,
is part of one closed system, he
says. This ethos is the most fu-
turistic element of his art, never
mind the aesthetic. “There are a
lot of things we’ve created that
arc just sitting around inert,” he
says. Not all of it can be buried,
not all recycled. In our collective
detritus, Mayer sees an opportu-
nity-even a mandate—for rein-
vention. This is our chance to
“take everything we have, pick
it all apart, choose the best parts
and reassemble it,” he says.
He’s not alone in his views.
His work has seen a recent surge
in popularity, attracting atten-
tion from magazines such as
W ired
and
M ake
and the website
BoingBoing. In addition to
having exhibited pieces at the
Nevada Museum of Art and
Mulvanc Museum in Topeka,
ks, he’s been showing this past
year at Device Gallery in San
Diego, and 5 Claude Lane in San
Francisco, and has found cre-
ative camaraderie in Applied
Kinetic Arts, a collective of art-
ists whose work incorporates
some degree of sound, motion or
interactivity. “W e’re going to
make a lot more junk, and there’s
going to be a lot more junk art,”
Mayer says. “I think people are
going to have a lot to say about
it, and more people need to think
about it.” -JULIE HANDS
Gallery shows, listed A -Z by
state. View complete calendar:
americancraftmag.org
CA / San Francisco
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
Volver: M exican Folk
A rt into Play
to Jan. 16
mocfa.org
In celebration of Mexico’s
bicentennial anniversary of
independence and centennial of
the revolution, this exhibition
focuses on contemporary works
and traditional crafts using popu-
lar folk-art processes and
materials.
CO /Denver
Plinth Gallery
Jonathan Kaplan
tojan. 29
plinthgallery.com
Work from the artist-owner of
Plinth Gallery, which focuses
exclusively on contemporary
ceramic art (below).
DE / Wilmington
Delaware Center for the
Contemporary Arts
Susan Myers: Sleight o f Hand
tojan. 9
thedcca.org
Myers, a metalsmith, presents
two bodies of work: Disposable
Series and Aluminum Series,
which grapple with consumption
and modern life.
ieremymaver.com
IL / Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
Contemporary Fiber A rt
to Feb. 7
artic.edu/aic
The inaugural show of the re-
opened Elizabeth F. Cheney and
Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries
examines how fiber art has devel-
\ •
oped since the mid-20th century.
N U D E I V ( D E L I L A H )
IS A S T R IK -
ing beauty: a 6-foot-tall woman,
casually reclining, with a hint of
a smile in her assertive gaze. Her
personality is palpable, and her
maker, Jeremy Mayer, wouldn’t
have it any other way. He spent
more than 1,400 hours assem-
bling Delilah out of typewriter
parts, meticulously manipulating
them until he’d caught life in her
orbital metal eyes.
“I feel like the parts do that
for me,” says Mayer, who has
been building typewriter sculp-
ture for 16 years, ever since a
Goodwill-bound Olivetti landed
in his hands. Instead of dropping
it off, he disassembled it.
Over the years, the California-
based artist has come to see type-
writers as a natural material, like
wood or stone. People mimicked
nature when designing them, he
explains. And when you take
them apart you’re left with an
elemental assortment of metals,
rubber, plastic and wood. In his
hands, those elements become
arresting anatomical sculptures.
Mayer doesn’t weld, solder or
glue; he crafts his figures exclu-
sively with materials and mecha-
nisms native to the machines. He
made the decision early on. “I
dec/jan 11 american craft 09
