The Curator's Eye

The Barn Identity | Jeremy Mangan, painter

Houses on Stilts, 2009

I want to create something that’s fun and interesting to make and a compelling image that rewards the viewer. Although at times tedious to paint, barns and sheds are extremely visually (as well as emotionally and intellectually) satisfying to me. The two-dimensional picture plane allows me to defy physics and build the most wonderfully ill-advised structures I can imagine. I never use a ruler. I feel strongly that if these images were too precise, they would lose their vitality. It has to be a little wobbly. It’s crucial to allow my hand, my “mistakes,” to show.

This painting is acrylic, but I’ve also painted with coffee quite a bit. It’s not about coffee as a concept in any way. it’s just the right color and
does interesting things. — Jeremy Mangan

Born: Kent, WA
Day job: Art handler/preparator, Tacoma Art Museum; seasonal ice sculptor, Okamoto Studio, NY
Subject matter: Weathered, wildly overbuilt barns and sheds
Last show: The Helm Gallery, April
Next show: Telephone Room, June 17 – August 5
Strangest ice sculpture carved: Twenty-five nude, life-size pregnant women with frighteningly realistic fetuses frozen inside for an antismoking advertisement
To see more: www.jeremymangan.com