James Croak
(American, b. 1951)

"Hand, No. 8"

dirt sculpture
cast signature at palm, with mount for hanging.
h. 10", w. 5-1/2", d. 2-1/4"

Provenance: Tinney Contemporary, Nashville, Tennessee; Private collection, Nashville, Tennessee.

Notes: A polymath and a musical child prodigy, Croak was born in Ohio, raised in Louisiana, and educated in Chicago where he studied philosophy and sculpture at two universities simultaneously. Shortly after graduation, he was the recipient of a prestigious National Endowment of the Arts grant. Initially, Croak worked with sheets of painted aluminum in a stark abstract style, but soon his work became increasingly figural.

As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and this is certainly apt in reference to Croak. In 1984 the young artist moved to Brooklyn; unable to afford bronze for a molded life-size sculpture, he was inspired by the urban landscape to use dirt, dust and glue. Pleased with the intentionally rough and textured surface of the finished work, dirt soon became Croak's preferred material. His technique has evolved over the years into a very precise, time-consuming and intricate process, requiring numerous photos, graphs and ultimately a clay-covered armature to create a cast which is then packed with dirt and binders. The "Dirt Hand" offered here is one in a series modeled after the artist's own hand.

10 x 5.5 x 2.25 in