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Handbook of inner culture for external barbarians (we nah beg no friend), 2013
concrete and ambulatory equipment
749.3 x 114.3 x 307.3 cm

Untitled, 2013
concrete and ambulatory equipment
95.3 x 95.3 x 106.7 cm

The set of means arranged in conformity with a plan; a little organized matter disorganized; a few compositional changes, dispose the group, unassemble them. ‘twas an agreeable episode, now we’ll essay another, 2009
ambulatory equipment, concrete

Every body moves, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly (Dedicate to everyone), 2012, concrete and ambulatory equipment

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And it was work unlike any other work, 2010

Death; death? It’s certain death, but with what speed and with what dash!, 2009
ambulatory equipment, concrete, bronze

untitled, 2013
inkjet monoprint, sprayed with UV clear gloss protection, 185.4 x 129.5 cm

The discourse traverses this space, and in this traversal it is gradually transformed into practice (Sir, are you getting hard? […] It’s true […] these systems have aroused my imagination.), 2010
concrete, marking paint transfer, ambulatory products

Sickness becomes the symptom of recovery, 2009

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untitled, 2013
inkjet monoprint, sprayed with UV clear gloss protection, 185.4 x 129.5 cm

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What counts is the example, death means nothing, 2010
concrete, ambulatory equipment

The Terror That So Often Accompanies Involuntary Defacation, 2009
concrete, medical foot stool legs, rubber crutch tips

New Juno (VOTS), 2011
concrete, ambulatory equipment

Knowing, even the grass We must tear up so it will stay green, 2010-2011
concrete, ambulatory equipment

untitled (peasant), 2013
inkjet monoprint, 185.4 x 129.5 cm

You musn’t eat me, I am four-footed too, 2009
concrete, chair legs, crutch tip

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all images courtesy JUSTIN MATHERLY

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Working with industrial materials — such as concrete and metal — and less traditional materials like walkers, crutches and other medical devices, Brooklyn-based artist JUSTIN MATHERLY creates monumental masses of concrete mounted upon a multitude of metal walkers. These abstracted forms that resemble contorted bodies or derelict monuments, explore subjects ranging from issues of identity and sexuality as well as the anthropological, historical, social, and political factors that impact on these constructions.

Reading is fundamental to my process. There are other elements at play throughout, but text––thought––is the overall structuring element that permits entry for me in terms of the specificity of a project. How the ideas connect to one another, what sort of interaction is created, and how something affects another thing is the process, which is arrived at through a combination of inherently open intuitive reasoning and factual reasoning.

I have begun to utilize a bulletin board as a mnemonic device with which to structure a project. I arrange images, notes, and more on the wall in such a way that things can easily be removed, covered, or added. This happens in conjunction with reading and manifests the first incarnation of the ideas for a work. Once the ideas and forms are clear and distinct (as much as is possible) in my mind, I usually create a “positive” form out of rigid foam, utilizing both additive and subtractive methods, from the chosen reference image. This foam “version” is only a further attempt at understanding and is how, at that point, I understand the original form. In other words, this “version” is now the original form that dictates the structure of the final object in that it will become the actual interior of the cast concrete form and will, finally, be discarded.

The materials used for casting this final object––a combination of Tree Gators, rigid foam, brush-on polyurethane rubber, and hot glue––are chosen for their flexibility and, as opposed to the idea of a traditional mold, which is to reproduce precisely a form, for their inherent inability to do exactly that. This requires me to rethink the form in its negative existence and to react appropriately to follow this or that line or curve, directing the object to a greater or lesser extent.

The material is then cast in concrete. I trust it will do what it will. The combination of concrete with the unpredictable mold is what ultimately determines the final form. — JUSTIN MATHERLY for ArtForum 500 words

More recently, he presented at Art Unlimited, an installation entitled Sunrise (2013) consisting of a ‘large-scale, cast cement sculpture based on relief panels excavated from Nemrut Dag˘ı, a mausoleum of the late Hellenstic King Antiochus I (69-44 BC) in Turkey. The composition of the sculpture is derived from a photograph taken during Theresa B. Goell’s 1953-1973 archeological dig. The relief panels were found upside down leaning against three cube-like fragments, which were believed to be part of an altar’.

JUSTIN MATHERLY (b. 1972) has exhibited at the Sculpture Center, New York (2010),  the Pacific College of Art, Portland (2009), Marginal Utility, Philadelphia (2011) and Bureau, New York (2011). His work was included in the group show Eight Sculptors at Paula Cooper Gallery (November–December 2012) where he recently had a solo exhibition (march-april 2013).