Jam Suttons’ work explores technology, the human body, figures under tension, struggle and identity through sculpture and digital composites. The new work captures the human body through frantic, chaotic, isolated, fragmented, strong and fragile sensibilities. The exhibition title reflects times of uncertainty and turbulence, facing the unknown.

The show features four fragmented sculptures, created using 3d scanning processes of human subjects. The works are fabricated using 3d printing and traditional hand-finished casting techniques in Carrara marble, as a dialogue juxtaposing contemporary and classical processes. The large scale work ‘Figures under tension (Staring into the Abyss)’ is a towering structure composted of fragmented bodies, almost as if relics of sculpture are stacked to create a tower of forms subverting gravity. ‘Four fragmented reclining figures, shifting form’ cannibalises, slices, cuts and reforms four figures to create an abstract fluid mass of intersecting limbs and arching torsos. Classical mythology is referenced in ‘Four fragmented seated figures, a bird of prey and a rock’, inspired by the Greek myth of Ganymede whilst suggesting dynamism and movement from the intersecting modular fragments.

Five two-dimensional digital composites feature in the show; these are produced using 3d scanned data of male subjects and additional elements created using artificial intelligence.

‍“I wanted to include artificial intelligence as a tool in my work, abstracting human identity by using a machine process. I produced thousands of images of my new sculptures to train an artificial intelligence neural network. Neural networks are computing systems that operate in a similar way to biological brains. I fed my source images into the AI network and trained the system using my work as a data set. The AI neural network then created completely new images from its learning which I use as elements in large compositions.”

‍The resulting images are organic, genderless humanoid figures which almost reference Hieronymus Bosch and Francis Bacon. Sutton uses these painterly elements to create swirling compositions surrounding the sculptural forms.

‍“I like to think of the AI elements as shadows of the figures, they are fluid and organic, genderless and grapple with the masculine forms within the work.”

‍Classical ascension and hell paintings are referenced in ‘Today’s the day that I become the sky’ & ‘The great divide is crossed for you, by me’ (these two titles reference the KatieJane Garside/Queenadreena song ‘For I am the Way’) and ‘Bitten by the decorated statues, there was nothing glistening as temples do, there was chaos’. The dizzying compositions of figures create a feeling of anxiety, tension and beauty. The fragmentation of the forms and chaotic compositions blur the lines between figurative and abstract representations of the subject. The sculptural figures in the centre of the compositions are suspended in what seems to be either a falling or rising motion, creating a surreal scene which portrays movement and a sense of sublimity.

Sutton’s work explores the space between technology and antiquity, creating pieces which are rooted in the ‘now’ (using the device of modern attire as a contemporary anchor) whilst simultaneously reacting to the past. Sutton sees the sculpture process as capturing shells of a figure. He’s capturing forms of his subjects but also pausing and preserving time.

The physical process of capturing the subject is almost a meditative experience. Keeping perfectly still for a period of time is difficult, the sitter becomes aware of their body, pressure points, pose, bones, flesh. The resulting work captures an essence of being, immortalised and suspended in a digital and physical space.

‘Staring into the Abyss’ is now available to visit in augmented reality. The ‘Jam Sutton Studio’ app is an Augmented Reality exhibition space, available for free download on the Apple App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android devices.

For a catalogue of available works contact studio@jamsutton.com