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his work
I ducked into the basement of his New Canaan apartment last week to have a look at his sculptures. A dimly lit corner of the dirt fl oor basement housed his workbench and sketches, along with 10 or more finished pieces and several more in progress. He’s not afraid to show the worst and best he has, and discuss them with me. “If you look at this form, I’m trying to get to this form.” He points to a more cultivated human face that stands about 3 feet high above its block base. “I'm trying to create a form that expresses true movement, confl ict and the tension of muscles.” The surface appears melted—almost liquefied into something other than steel. Fry uses a heating and pulverization technique to get the metal to a malleable state. “My initial idea is normally less involved than the finished metal creation I make. When I first started making sculptures, I started from an object that I liked (some found object like a fork or something) and built around it. I felt like the life I was giving the form was already there. I would walk around streets and fi nd objects and then create around them. For the last year or so, I've been making sculptures without being confi ned by the initial object.” Fry’s most recent pieces show an opening up, a true transformation of the material, rather than found objects welded together into new shapes. They invite you to touch them even though they are sharp in places. My favorite of his collection is one called, Molting, a dynamic bird piece bursting with claws and feathers. It says more about bird energy than replicating a bird in portrait could. I have to remind myself that it is metal, which seems to be the most challenging material to tame. “I feel proud when I cut myself on the metal of something I made. When I'm welding, I feel like something's breathing through me. I'm like 50 steps ahead of my hands. The tool most useful for me right now would have to be the angle grinder. I feel like the angle grinder is my translator when talking to steel.” Fry says, “For me, making sculpture is like taking medicine or praying. What would happen if I started trying to make my medicine for other people? Other people have other needs and I'd have to make them medicine that is different from my own medicine.”
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shows/awards
Even without concern for art cred, Fry has managed to get noticed. His piece, Chameleon, received First Place in the Gallery West 7th National Juried Exhibition in 2004, and he has two Honorable mentions from Silvermine Arts Guild Student Shows from 2003 and 2004. “The shows I've gotten into so far have been outside of Connecticut. I don't know why that is. My only method of getting into shows right now is applying to juried shows, which are a crapshoot anyway. I've done alright so far with the juried shows I've applied to. In all honesty, I feel that this area is more concerned with artist resumes and who you studied with than with what you create.” Fry says.
online
His website features a full e-gallery of his work, (www.jimmytim.com) and he is also on exhibit at Imagestation, (www.imagestation.net), and Period Gallery, (www.periodgallery.com). With the time it takes to complete a sculpture, mixed between work, and school, Fry is likely to squeak out some new pieces within a year or so. Fry is definitely a local artist to keep on the radar screen.
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