Jeff Sugar - Mobiles

Jeff Sugar has a pretty impressive day job. As a psychiatrist for the last thirty years, he has worked with both children and adults. But he has also been an artist for most of his life. For the last six years, he has concentrated on making mobiles. Suspended from ceilings, the organic shapes move and dance and hint of inner lives. For the most part, they are anthropomorphic, and they allude to a state of almost. They look almost like humans. They look almost like something recognizable or figurative. They look almost like one should know what they are immediately. But they are magically ambiguous.

He has a series called “Flat Androids” which I have included in The Collective. While this is a very charming category, they ask a lot of deep questions. As mobiles that pierce time and space, move, and catch the light - they are very organic. But what they are - exactly - is not quite known. We rely on the talents and vision of the artist to help us see them and understand them.

Made from steel and aluminum, they are very thin, and sensitive. But they have a large presence. There is at first read, a touch of whimsy, but as noted, there is clearly an inner life. A piece like “Simone Leaping” casts an exuberant shadow coupled with the mobile that looks like a balletic jump. Again though, what is it that is dancing exactly? These organic, abstract shapes are interesting because one can is inclined to assign human characteristics - legs, jumping, exuberance, to these flat surfaces. And cleverly, the artist serves as the interpreter of these images and objects.

The intersectionality of shadow and object add weight to the idea of the artist helping meaning along. The artist’s interest and knowledge of the human brain is a supplement to the grace and simple beauty of these mobiles. What is so interesting about all these pieces is the presence of the artist: he helps the viewer interpret what is seen.

He is interested in the idea of multiple perspectives, and change. Moving from one state to another - temporary to permanence, ephemera to weight. His scientific curiosity has melded into his artistic artwork. 

 All his pieces are multiples. And they can be custom commissioned for sizes.