My Story
It started with my children and a box of wax strings…
They very quickly lost interest in playing with the wax strings and moved on. I didn’t. What began as casual experimentation became a technique, and eventually an entire body of work. The wax strings were not incidental. They were the point. I build each figure by hand, layering strings into a torso, two legs, a head, a posture, and finally a personality (with accessories too). Then I photograph them under directional lighting which creates strong, dramatic shadows. These shadows are real. The depth is real. Then I paint them in oil.
The technique sits at an intersection between old masters lighting, children's craft material, comic book word bubbles and figurative oil painting. Each element is borrowed from a different tradition. Together they produce something that belongs to none of them.
I wasn't trying to make a cute craft project. I was trying to figure out what these figures could do in paint.
From children’s toy to fine art
Bio
Mari Jae studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, le Faculté de Lettres, and Indiana University. She had her first solo exhibition in Aix-en-Provence, France. Her work has been shown in museums and galleries in France, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and is held in private collections across the United States, France, Switzerland and Canada. She has been featured in Average Art Magazine (UK) and has been interviewed by New York press. She was a candidate for Bravo's Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.
She works from her studio at Art Oasis Natick, Massachusetts — a creative hub she co-founded that is open to all.
Most artists begin with a sketch. I begin with a sculpture.
The figures aren't the point. They're the device.
I use these strange little people to get at things that are considerably less strange: the things we say, the things we don't say, and the things we somehow manage to misunderstand anyway.
Politics. Relationships. Identity. Power. Family. Absurdity.
Sometimes the figure says exactly what they mean. Sometimes they really, really don't.
Classically Trained. Deliberately Contemporary.
I was trained to care about drawing, composition, light, anatomy, paint handling and the traditions of oil painting.
I also happen to make my figures out of wax strings.
That tension is intentional.
I like taking something with a very long history (classical oil painting) and putting it in conversation with something decidedly less respectable: children's craft material, comic-book language and the strange little dramas of everyday life.
Statement
Profound, but not confusing; invoking emotion but not underestimating the Viewer’s intelligence; exploring all possibilities but never straying too far from certainty (or creating new certainties). Using perceived frivolity to make us think about society, politics, relationships and life is my primary focus. I work with wax strings. I use them to create colorful, whimsical people and then they become the subjects of my paintings. The painted figures have a lot of dimension and really pop off the canvas. They are fanciful on one hand and cutting on the other. They are smile invoking and thought provoking. They are gibberish and sharply communicative.
After I sculpt the figures out of wax strings, I set them up in bright light with dramatic shadows. This is a nod to the historical standard of oil painting mastery - the capturing of light. Even though I’m working in a contemporary way, I pride myself on referencing the traditional ideals of a “perfect painting.” In addition, I’m also inspired by the communication techniques that I see used in the graphic novels and comic books that my kids read. Merging history with the contemporary is how I approach my compositions. As a result, my paintings are dimensional and vibrant, each of them featuring figures who express themselves using thought bubbles and word bubbles. Adding this as a way for the figures to communicate is how I bridge the gap between silliness and statement. It’s how innocent figures help us explore complex ideas. For example, I might have one male figure saying the word “talk” standing next to a female figure thinking the word “action.”
I happened upon wax strings while playing with my children. They were experimenting and deeply engaged with making and stacking shapes all the while completely uninterested in what I was doing. So, I experimented. Then I painted. My goal with these is to delight and confuse and to make people stop and consider statement-making art in a new way!
