READING ART

READING ART is simple, it’s free, and is meant to enlighten and entertain those who sign up to receive a once a month photo of one of my sculptures, accompanied by a text. This text is not to explain, define, nor defend the art, yet will have some relevance to it.

Reading art is like 'reading' the weather. You have to observe it for a long time, and over a long period of time, until you can predict its flavor, its attitude, its inevitability to stun, to surprise, to anger, to bring pleasure.

What I hope to achieve is for the viewer to "look", to “see”, to "read" the art in a new or meaningful way.

Start READING ART now!

Thank you,

TJ Mabrey

Receive READING ART

Ishmael and the Rising Tide of Memories

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

The title,” Ishmael”, was suggested by Texas poet and teacher at the University of California at Berkeley, John Campion. The name “Ishmael” was chosen for it reflected my interest in nature and concern for the environment.

The sculpture is a very long fish, perhaps a whale, with a male figure clinging to its back. Is the figure climbing on, hanging on, falling off or letting go? Who will be the victor?

BOUND BUD

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

bound and gagged
[ bound n gagd ]

WHAT DOES BOUND AND GAGGED MEAN?

Bound is a word we immediately recognize to describe things that are tied up, like the pages of a book, or being linked to other things or people by common values, such as 'we are bound together.' But it is also referred to in police reports to indicate a person that has been restrained, to prevent them from physically moving by having their hands bound together with an electrical strap or a zip tie.

6 Poeti Crepuscolari

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

Seed

It’s a shell, a foregone conclusion
waiting its chance to be shattered, perhaps,
by something as graceless as luck.
It lands softly and with little fanfare,
a goddess with her apple inside.
Fecund, maybe. Encircled by pulp.
The sculptor’s made one of marble,
bright and sensual; it glistens. It cracks
in changing weather, and is no longer itself
but rather something else: broken apart.
The light loves it. Moths shroud it at nighttime.

THREE SISTERS

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

The story behind TJ Mabrey’s sculpture THREE SISTERS is complicated as it relates to agriculture. It speaks of avenues for salvation and survival of the human race and our home, Earth, from agriculture.

The human story is complicated. The history of agriculture is equally complex. Once our ancestors organized agriculture; they wanted to feed the world. With advances in science, chemical fertilizers became possible. The horse was replaced by the combustion engine. Industrialization moved "forward."

It was thought that we now had a way to feed the hungry and eliminate starvation. But what grew out of these advancements was disastrous for the environment and even for the survival of our own species.

WINTER LEMON

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

DOES WINTER LEMON MEET THE ACID TEST?

If you've ever bitten into a lemon, or that slice of a lemon stuck on the side of your ice tea glass, you've experienced citric acid - a naturally occurring, weak acid, found in citrus fruit. Citric acid is used in a variety of products from household cleaners to disinfectants. It is used in personal care products, yet it can safely remove toxins from polluted soil and yes, even clean up nuclear waste. Best of all, is its miraculous use in the kitchen to enhance food and enliven beverages from the bar. Citric acid is generally deemed safe; however, when I cut into a lemon, I think of something else.

CACTUS POD

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

The War in Iraq was a dark thing. Yet there it was, happening in the fertile crescent of ancient Mesopotamia. In what was The Garden of Eden, where life began between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the cities, the towns, the villages, were rendered dark by bombs and bullets; as black as the dirt hurriedly thrown over the bodies of the dead. On the edge of paradise, in the desert, possibly unseen, a cactus grew, quietly, spewing forth its seeds of life. Life goes on, at some price. We all pay. Is it worth the price?

POPPY POD

A Continuing Discussion about the Seeds and Pods
of Sculptor TJ Mabrey

Poppies have been referenced in literature since Homer’s writings in Ancient Greece. Papaver somniferum renders brilliant, blood–red flowers, while others are pink, like the soft cheek of a child. These flowers are some of nature’s premier beauties. But that beauty belies the black nature of humans who put the pod of the poppy to malevolent use. The milky latex extracted from the seed pod contains naturally occurring opiates and alkaloids whose pharmacological use, in the form of opium, has been documented since the 16th century. Working in The Golden Triangle of opium trade, Britain engaged in Two Opium Wars during the 1800s that resulted in a lucrative trade agreement with China that would last for 150 years. Greed, power, money, control.

TJ Mabrey

Sculptor

READING ART

READING ART

Ishmael and the Rising Tide of Memories

WATER WORLD

BOUND BUD

6 Poeti Crepuscolari

THREE SISTERS

WINTER LEMON

CACTUS POD

POPPY POD

DOA
Patent Pending