https://freeyork.org/design/bizarre-ceramic-sculptures-by-jason-briggs/

From his studio in rural Tennessee, Jason Briggs works away on his monstrous representations of the human body. They are surreal and abstract pieces that twist and distort our anatomy into unrecognizable shapes; with strong sexual imagery that can be plainly seen.

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I was lucky enough to directly get in contact with the artist himself, he was so kind to answer some of my questions regarding his process, his inspirations, and his work:

What lead you to use ceramics as your main medium for your art?

I stuck with Drawing initially. It wasn’t until I took my first Ceramics class in undergrad that I discovered a deep love for the process. I loved watching the clay move and transform before my eyes. This wasn’t an emotion I had experienced on paper, simply because I was too anal, too tight with the media to appreciate the transformation of space/form. It seems relevant to point out, I was not a person who responded to the feeling of “mud in my fingernails”, the way so many ceramicists do. I still hate that feeling. I love using clay because of how I can make it look, NOT because I enjoy "getting dirty".

also, the ceramics professors at my school were very engaging. I simply loved to be in the clay studio. possibly more than any other clay quality, the love of the ceramics studio is really why I kept taking more clay classes.

But, if the broader question is Why do I Still Use Clay? I would say straight away that, as a craftsmanship addict, clay (especially porcelain) gives me back what I need regarding the process. It allows me to work in a manner that seems most appropriate to my temperament. In much the same way a Painter chooses paint as her starting point, I choose clay.

What/who are/were your artistic influences that guided your work as an artist today?

My first ceramics professor, Charlie Olson, played a major role in fostering a love and deep respect for the material. I have always loved his work, but his intense passion for the making of objects affects me most. He remains one of my dearest friends, nearly 35 years later.

I'm inspired ("stimulated") by a variety of things http://jasonbriggs.com/stimulation/. i am rarely inspired by artwork. i am sometimes inspired by people (artists and otherwise) for various reasons (personality, work ethic, knowledge....).

this is a difficult question because i try hard NOT to reference specific traditions. i learned clay the way most of us learn clay: coil-building, slab-building, wheel-throwing hollow forms (vessels). my work evolved from this. At one point i decided i wanted to make an object that did not look like a “ceramic artist” made it. so i made a form that was as far away from “pottery” as i could manage. (of course, my material still references pottery, as does my scale.) with this challenge in mind, my work finally started to feel personal. So in short, this challenge I issued to myself has inspired my work. (of course i realize my work DOES reference other artists. i think it’s impossible to avoid. German artist Hans Bellmer comes to mind…. I love his work, but i never knew about it while i was developing my style. certainly there are other artists as well, whose work could be described similar to mine.)

while it’s impossible to make art in a vacuum, i will say, i pay much more attention to non-art inspiration: the human body, things in nature that appeal to my sense of touch…things i see that make me feel uneasy.

What does your artistic process look like?

In nearly every case, I start with two or three wheel-thrown hollow forms. I play with combining these until I am satisfied with the potential of that form. From there I add lines that will become layers, or surface features. I work very much intuitively; one set of decisions affects the next, and so on. There are no sketches, only a general understanding of form and scale: fat, long, twisted, stretched, squat, compact, puffy, wrinkled, etc. The 'personality' of the piece shows up slowly.

I work for 2-3 months on wet or leather-hard clay. then I wrap it up for a month or two to dry inside the plastic. after the piece is dry, I spend another two to three weeks sanding, polishing, adding mixed-media (hair, etc), refining, refiring, building bases. it’s not how clay students learn to do it. but my slow process is certainly not unique. sculptors, jewelers, furniture makers, for example, can work at a turtle's pace as well.

Is there a message behind your ceramic sculptures? if yes what is it?

to make work that sticks with the viewer, but not just because it’s shocking. work that challenges the viewer on multiple levels.

Here is my Artist Statement:

At 8 years old I saw my first Playboy spread. The nature of that experience — pure, primal, and singular — remains a catalyst. These were clearly magazine photos — flat images on semi-gloss stock — but my instinctive response was to embrace the nude; I held her page to my chest in a delusional bear hug. My imagination went haywire.

On one level, my work is part of an ongoing effort to document and expand upon that adolescent moment. Though my objects contain strong visual references, I am more interested in the implied tactile ones; the things that stir in me a compulsion to touch. While manipulating porcelain, I recognize, and act upon, a profound desire to push, poke, squeeze, stroke, caress, and pinch. I intend for my pieces to invoke a similar sort of temptation: to dare the viewer to touch.

Or better yet, to imagine touching.

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