(left) Jeffrey Sarmiento, Muse, 2013
kilnformed glass, 39.375 x 29.625 x .875 inches
(right) Jeffrey Sarmiento, Muscles, 2013
kilnformed glass, 39.375 x 29.625 x .875 inches
Portland, OR – Bullseye Gallery presents Constructions, a solo exhibition by Jeffrey Sarmiento on view March 5 – May 3, 2014
Construction of knowledge, of identity, and of culture is at the heart of Jeffrey Sarmiento’s mid-career solo exhibition at Bullseye Gallery. All of these constructions are based on our perception. Our understanding of a thing is determined by our point of view. The windows and optical effects that Sarmiento employs highlight this reality. “This exhibition is all about looking at things twice,” Sarmiento explains, “reconfiguring your understanding of experiences.“ If we look at everything in the encyclopedia, all at once, it no longer holds meaning. If we look too closely all we see are unintelligible bits of information. If we look at the past or another culture we look through the lenses of our current moral and aesthetic values.
In his past work, these lenses, both literal and metaphorical, have focused on his cultural background. Sarmiento, a Filipino-American, contrasts the dual experiences of simultaneously being from two distinct cultures. Now, a resident of the United Kingdom for over eight years, Sarmiento straddles several cultures and considers the shift in perspective that occurs when one sheds the skin of one culture and acclimates oneself to another.
Jeffrey Sarmiento, a Chicago native, received the Research Councils UK Academic Fellowship in Glass for 2006-2011. His work has been exhibited across the US and in Denmark. He has also received fellowships from UrbanGlass (Brooklyn, NY), the Creative Glass Center of America (Millville, NJ), and the Fulbright Fellowship to Denmark. His work is included in the collections of the Glasmuseet Ebeltoft (Denmark), the Museum of American Glass (Millville, NJ), and the Rhode Island School of Design Artist Book Collection (Providence, RI).
