A solo exhibition of sculpture by Jeffrey Mongrain will be displayed at the Museum from January 24 through March 21, 2008. The exhibition will also contain photographs of site-specific installations.

Jeffrey Mongrain was born in International Falls, Minnesota in 1956. He received a BFA from the University of Minnesota and MFA from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Jeffrey Mongrain has been a Professor of Art at Hunter College in New York City since 1995. He previously taught for seven years at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland.

Mongrain creates both gallery-based works and site-specific pieces. The sited works are primarily located in spiritual spaces. His gallery-based sculptures are reductive and generally reference iconic forms. There is a compelling oblique narrative suggested by Mongrain’s sculptures that also reflects an autobiographical politic. Scientific findings and religious philosophy are the conceptual foundation of his emotive forms.

Frame, 2007, 78 x 44 x 4 inches, clay

This door frame, styled after a Gothic molding, is the size of the average walk through metal detector. The sill at the bottom of the frame is cast from the entrance of the New York City FBI Building in lower Manhattan.

Pierced Moose with Branch, 2005,
33 x 11 x 4 inches, clay and resin

This work, originally exhibited in the artist’s home state of Minnesota, is based on the destructive effects of global warming. Shorter winters are decreasing the nutrients in the foliage of the northern regions. Moose, although continuing to eat their traditional amount of food, are slowly dying of starvation.

An Evening’s Breath, 2001, 6 x 29 x 21 inches, clay, water, and wax
Collection of the Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY

This sculptural pillow form is based on European cryptal statuary in which the heads of full-length reclining bodies rest on pillows. The head impression of this piece holds 8.5 oz. of water, the average amount of moisture a woman respires over eight hours of sleep.