Meet Jeff Wallace

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Wallace.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. My mom’s family ran a dairy farm in a nearby town; my dad was the youngest of four children and was raised mostly by his mother, Minnie Mae, a door-to-door egg delivery woman in Syracuse. Both families were driven by a strong work ethic… that’s something I learned from them.

I was the second of five kids and had a happy, almost idyllic, childhood. My siblings and I were close in age and we were always together. Our summers were spent at the house my parents built on a small lake just across the Canadian border. We spent a lot of time outdoors – climbing rocks, getting lost in cornfields, and building makeshift forts along the creek bed. Growing up, that was my paradise. It’s interesting, now, to see how each of my siblings have differing perspectives on our childhood experiences and how their personal recollections differ so much from my own. It’s these idiosyncrasies that have informed the work I do today.

I was always creative. I took drawing lessons, led songs around the campfire, and performed in plays. I was fortunate that my creativity was encouraged by everyone in my life. My public high school had a very advanced art program with an extremely dedicated teacher, who became a close friend and mentor. Mr. Todisco would invite visiting artists to introduce us to drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, and jewelry making. He taught art and music history and would plan yearly ‘culture’ trips to New York City to visit museums, see opera, classical music performances, and Broadway theater. His goal was to expose us to the world outside our small town in an effort to make us more well-rounded. Over summer breaks, he would attend an arts education conference at Skidmore College and bring a few students along so we could attend performances of the New York City Ballet at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. During the day we attended dance rehearsals so we could draw the dancers. In the evening, we watched Baryshnikov and McBride dance. This introduction to the arts at such an early age led to a lifelong passion to create.

Please tell us about your art.
I am a multi-media artist. My work explores the palimpsestic nature of memory – the constant overlapping, erasing, and retelling of stories through generations.

The origins of my early work lay in personal experience: in 2012, as my elderly relatives began showing signs of failing health and memory loss, I was left to manage their personal effects. Gathering and organizing their correspondence, papers, photographs and documents, I recognized how the various ephemera together formed a distinct, personal narrative, documenting a sequence of moments that collectively recount a lifetime. My practice began during this period, fueled by my interest in exploring memory and how we attach memories to objects that are saved or collected throughout our lives. Although it was not my original intention, the initial paper assemblage works became ‘portraits’ of my family members – a series entitled ‘In You I Measure Time.’

With the passing of time and separation from the immediate experience, my work has transformed from abstract portraits to minimalist studies of color and form. In achieving this shift in focus from the emotional to the literal, the newer works embody the gradual process by which memory, and moments in time, can shift from recollection to interpretation.

Within the last year, I have focused almost exclusively on the use of vintage books. The stories buried within these volumes go beyond the printed page – inscriptions, signatures, notations, even doodles and other forms of defacement add to the history of the book and tell a story of those who created them, held them, or left them behind. Through a process of literary archeology, I uncover and reassemble buried content and fragments – both literal and conceptual – to create compositions that invoke times past and the journey of the original source material.

We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
Being an artist is a very individual experience, but there is a community of support.

We are makers, and that is a huge, built-in connection. I recently attended a panel discussion on creativity and commerce. James Siena, one of the four panelists, said “The most important people in your life are your friends. Show up for them. Go to their shows. Support them.” I believe that. Your friends are the people who will help you through the highs and the lows and help you figure out what you need to move forward.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I split my time between Miami and Brooklyn, working in both cities. Currently, my work is best seen online at jeffwallacenyc.com and on Instagram, where I post more studio and process images.

I also show at Lichtundfire Gallery on New York’s Lower East Side and am participating in upcoming group shows in New York in the Spring/Summer of 2019.

Contact Info:

• Address: jeff@jeffwallacenyc.com
• Website: www.jeffwallacenyc.com
• Phone: 646.236.6732
• Email: jeff@jeffwallacenyc.com
• Instagram: @jeffwallace_nyc
• Facebook: @jeffwallacenyc

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