James Shefik
I am naturally a sensitive, curious, pessimist. Human behavior fascinates me, and while we have many positive traits, my work tends to highlight our absurdities and weaknesses.
The resulting pieces tend to blur the lines between contemporary art, beauty and the political use of power to fabricate new ways to see the world around us.
I like to pervert subjects and materials. I do this with common everyday objects (chair, matches, gun, childhood toys) , in varying dimensions, media and numbers. My faux vintage neon signs, bring us back to a time of a big and exciting future, with a sprinkling of our present, while a collapsed life-sized thumb puppet of Robert E. Lee connects with the ongoing collective reckoning with America’s racist past, and the continued urgency of nationwide calls to remove Confederate statues.
All of my work is handmade, though it may look like an assemblage of found objects. Part of the point of this detail is a rebuttal to the digital instant gratification, short attention span landscape that pervades the early 21st century and an emerging dependence on Artificial Intelligence in Government, Business and Art.
Conceptual, multidisciplinary artist James Shefik lives in Oakland. Along with making art in his studio, he is a scenic foreman for film and television (Sense8, 13 Reasons Why, Jobs, Milk, and Matrix 4, to name a few).
Primarily a sculptor, Shefik creates artwork that reveals his strong concern in regards to social political absurdity that often accompanies concentrations of power.
His work has been exhibited at the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA, Aqua Art Fair, Miami, FL, the Richmond Art Center, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA, and Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA. Shefik was the recipient of an SFWeekly Mastermind Grant in 2011.
Shefik’s work is included in the DeYoung Museum’s Permanent Collection as well as numerous private collections.
©James Shefik 2024