Sam Jaffe – With All You've Got, As Fast As I Can

When French artist Marcel Duchamp showed his "Fountain" at the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917 he declared, that an object like a porcelain urinal could be seen as a piece of art, too. Picking it out of a row of uniform urinals he gave back a sort of aura to a single anonymously produced object by signing it. At this time industrially manufactured objects had begun to replace handmade goods, mass production conquered every part of everyday life. Today this process rooted in Capitalist modes of production is still increasing. The question, who in fact has made a product leaving a factory is unsolvable, because many workers are involved; and everyone is responsible only for one step in the production process. It has to be an artist to appreciate and dignify objects of mass production. With his "Readymades" Duchamp challenged conventional notions of what art is, and what not. But he made a telling choice: The urinal is strongly linked to masculinity and we can imagine that Duchamp would probably not have succeeded by lifting a crocheted potholder in the state of art. Art history had to wait until women artists came along in the sixties and fought for the recognition of art referring to women's traditional handicrafts, lost or forgotten with the industrial mass production. Sam Jaffe - following both in Duchamp's and Eva Hesse's, pioneer of crocheted art installations, footsteps - refreshes these ambitions and dares another approach. She buys and collects industrially produced pillowcases, quilts, sweaters or potholders which she finds in second-hand stores and creates new objects of striking loveliness. Some remind of the splendor of tropical underwater life, with sea anemones in all their glimmering multicolored variety. Other pieces are combined to flashy big hats or concentric pillow, creations sending out rays like tiny suns.

My basic point here is that these objects possess power, meaning, and thus a unique type of value that extends beyond a monetary one. The goal of this show then, is to pay homage to the anonymous creators of these valuable objects by displaying them in the form of works of fine-art. My role in this series of work is both that of collaborator/embellisher/responder and also as curator. -Sam Jaffe

Sam Jaffe rejects Duchamp's cool aesthetics and-without any headache if her work could be called "decorative"-delights her audience with objects of beauty. Is beauty finally accepted in art? Hopefully!

SAM JAFFE is a sculptor, painter, fiber, and installation artist currently living and working in Chicago, IL. She received her BFA from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 where she majored in painting and her MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 where she studied painting and drawing. She also spent a year abroad as a part of RISD's European Honors Program in Rome, Italy where she studied both contemporary and historical Italian Art and Architecture. Sam Jaffe has shown in many Chicago area galleries including Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, The Union League Club, The Highland Park Art Center, The Hyde Park Art Center, and The Elmhurst Art Museum. She currently teaches courses at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Highland Park Art Center, and The University of Vermont.

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