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The Inflated Steel of Jeremy Thomas

www.ccasantafe.org/
Jeremy Thomas, Zoom Blue, 2015, forged mild steel, epoxy and urethane, 92 1/2 x 56 x 35"

Steel sheets of various sizes are welded together at the seams, heated, and then inflated with compressed air, like large vividly-colored metal balloons.  These playful objects are the work of Española-based sculptor Jeremy Thomas, and they're on display this spring at two Santa Fe galleries, The Center for Contemporary Arts and Charlotte Jackson Fine Art.

Jeremy prefers to say that his scultures are grown rather than made.  "I create a construct and then I allow the air to manipulate or change that construct.  So as it expands with heat, it does it slowly.  It might take three, eight or ten times of inflation before I get the form to feel like it has some tension in it.  That suggests to me that they're growing, a process of development over time."

In this more complete version of the conversation, Jeremy discusses the two exhibits currently on view in Santa Fe -- the CCA show, Unintended Consequences, which is a survey of his work from the past thirteen years, and Structural Consciousness at Charlotte Jackson, which features his most recent work.

jeremy_thomas_interview_long_version_final.mp3

Spencer Beckwith reports on the arts for KUNM. For ten years, until March of 2014, Spencer was the producer and host of KUNM's "Performance New Mexico," a weekday morning arts program that included interviews with musicians, writers and performers. Spencer is a graduate of the acting program at the Juilliard School, and, before moving to New Mexico in 2002, was for many years a professional actor based in New York City.
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