Newest Jack Nichelson series on display at the Harn Museum

June 22, 2010

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Artist Jack Nichelson has been creating intricate and evocative “box environments” for more than 40 years. His latest series will be on display today through Jan. 2, 2011, at the Harn Museum of Art in the exhibition “Jack Nichelson: Sojourner Dream Reliquaries.”

Part construction, part assemblage, his sculptures of wood, paint and mixed media have included series on war, toy transport, Japanese culture and now reliquaries.

The exhibition represents the culmination of Nichelson’s longstanding fascination with the visual presence of religious reliquaries, which are containers for relics. The series includes 22 sculptures replicating the basic forms of travel trailers from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. Both the compact size and shapes of the trailers lend themselves to the secular reliquary concept.

“Following his retirement from a long academic career as professor in UF’s School of Art and Art History, Jack Nichelson continued to work as a sculptor, combining high technical skill with visual imagery inspired by folklore, societal issues, and his own travel experiences,” said Dulce Roman, curator of modern art at the Harn Museum.

The exteriors of the trailers are enhanced with color enamels and gold, bronze and silver in various textures. Some of the roofs incorporate unusual surfaces such as snakeskin and birch bark. The intricate, lighted interior of each work invites the viewer to look carefully at the details both inside and outside. One additional work, a trailer park office building, completes the series.

Commenting on the rich symbolism of this series, Nichelson said “The interiors have a dream-like quality that mostly revolves around societal issues. Each interior is vastly unique.”

Created over a nine-year period, the series has never before been exhibited in its entirety. All of the works in the exhibition are lent courtesy of the artist.

The exhibition is made possible by the Harn Program Endowment with support from the Exhibition Circle.

Admission to the Harn Museum of Art is free. For more information call 352-392-9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.