Pupation: Joey Watson and James Glisson in Conversation
1) Photograph of Joey Watson. Courtesy of the artist.
2) Joey Watson, Pupation, 2023. Glazed ceramic. Courtesy of the artist’s studio.
As part of programming for Made by Hand / Born Digital (on view through August 25), enjoy an engaging conversation between artist Joey Watson and SBMA Curator of Contemporary Art James Glisson. One interpretation of Watson's aesthetic is that it takes the often bizarre and hard-to-fathom forms that life generates in the natural world—whether insects, sea creatures, or microorganism—and reminds us that being human is just one way of being alive. Watson's sculptures are also tour-de-forces of traditional and innovative techniques. He uses 3D printing, fired clay, dazzling glazes, plastic, metal, and silicone among many other materials to build his hybrid sculptures and realize his complex performances.
Born and grown in the Sonoran desert, where the earth is dry, Watson followed a star to the Kansas City Art Institute where he studied ceramics and then graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. His work explores qualities of ineffable experience shared in, together. Addressing the space between us by concentrating attention in synchronous direction, by means of tool design and use as well as narrative immersion through the collaborative project M∿JUG (pronounced M-Sine-Jug) whose engagements are presented through the activation of systems of tools to tell their tale, in the likeness of theater.
He currently lives in Santa Barbara and is the studio manager for Lynda Weinman. Exploring careful craft with expansive tools. All for dreams.
