Skull/Plinth (2024) by Rhode Island local Jim Drain is an exploration of the body and how it both endures and struggles in times of tribulation. Although the skull is being weighed down by the metaphorical “body” of the plinth, it nonetheless supports it instead of being crushed, forever existing in a Promethean state of painful stasis.
Artist Statement:
The body is an intersection of many things that are always in flux and prone to ouchies, heartache, heat and disaster. It can be embarrassing. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” the character Giles Corey, still in defiance to the false charges against him, utters as his last words, “More weight.” Corey is squished and the stone refuses his lungs to inhale. In “Skull/Plinth” the stone is a stand-in for the body but also is the refusal of a body; it is a stack that adds ‘more weight’ where typically there is triumph; here, if there is triumph, it is a contradictory one. In the end, it is as if the sculpture is always saying goodbye, “later, dudes!” but can never leave.
Artist Bio:
Jim Drain (b. 1975, Cleveland, OH) is a multimedia artist based in Providence, Rhode Island and holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. His work with Forcefield, a collective that merged music, performance film and installation, was active from 1996 to 2002 and was part of the Whitney Biennial in 2002. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions including University of Florida, Gainesville; Locust Projects in Miami, Florida; Blanton Museum at the University of Texas, Austin; John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; The Garage in Moscow, Russia; The Pit in Los Angeles, California; Nathalie Karg Gallery in New York City; and Parker Gallery in Los Angeles, California. Drain’s work is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Rhode Island School of Design Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Drain was one of two recipients of the 2005 Baloise Prize and was recognized with artist Bhakti Baxter for creating “best public art projects in the nation” by Americans for the Arts in 2015.
Special thanks to Amaral Custom Fabrications for fabrication and installation partnership.
