Before the etching of the copper alloy begins, there’s a transfer of energy, a spiritual reckoning. Whatever its mystical, metaphysical or psychic source, sculptor Jeffrey Maron becomes the “intermediary,” connecting with a transformative energy that allows him to generate profoundly-evocative animistic shapes.
Forms that stir our imagination. Drawing inspiration from Nature, Shinto art, Sumerian civilization, and even quantum mechanics, Maron, 72, feels the power of different cultures and beliefs in the “meditative atmosphere” of his New York studio. Here he forms, shapes, welds, and finishes copper alloy pieces that probe the ephemeral, giving such philosophical issues as Existence and Equilibrium cogency.
“My having a deep relationship with the materials is sacred, so I respect the copper alloy, can never abuse it, and I want to turn it into expressive explorations,” insists Maron, pointing to a still-unfinished, unnamed piece in his New York studio. Delicately, yet with strength, he nurtures the evolving forms, mapping an atlas of foreign lands and close-to-home universals we can all identify with. Abstractions we can understand–and palpably feel–like Them, Faith, and the powerful Emergence, works that prompt this modest minimalist to say, “I hope my art doesn’t need an explanation.”
Describing one of his favorite works, Play, he says, “when my two children came into my life I greatly understood Nature’s gifts. I now feel there’s a river of creative energy that I tap into and become part of. I want to show that we must all play.” That’s Maron’s work, invocations. We must all find A Form of Balance, A Mother’s Love, Partners, and certainly a Dreamer.
Suggesting a person reclining, and reaching a dreamy state of peace, this anthropomorphic, emotionally-charged piece combines an elongated oval and circle. Maron calls the work the “seminal archetype of my sculpture,” insisting, “it’s like life, a cell or a seed. The circle is the architecture of the cycle of life. It’s simple, but I push myself to be simple, to explain life through these sculptures in the simplest terms.”
His avoiding the exaggerated, and allowing “very reliable energy to just flow,” has earned him three grants from the National Endowment of the Arts. He’s exhibited in Tokyo, Monaco, Sweden, and is especially proud of “Devotion,” a 2013 show in New York. “I’ve just finished a work that required two months. Its surfaces demanded much attention… but like animism my art should convey an energy that we are all drawn to. “As a sculptor I believe in certain forms like the circle and spiral. They are powerful, transmitting the energy of life. I was never tired doing that piece. Those forms gave me strength and the utmost hope.”
