Combining the Tangible with the Intangible

By Ashley Klann

Camera parts, glass, scratched photos, and casts of human bones may not seem to be the most ideal media for a piece of art that represents love, but artist and Worcester native Jonathan Lucas sees things differently. Whether his unique combinations of sculpture and photography are inspired by family, friends, or the Heart of the Commonwealth, Lucas has a lot of love to give.

“Worcester keeps sucking me back in,” Lucas said with a laugh. “I’m immersed in several different communities here ~ the arts, academia, the working class. Worcester has enabled me to do a lot of reaching out.”

Even after spending a good deal of time in the artistic haven that is New York City, Lucas still finds his strongest moments of creative solitude in the Woo. “I’m given space and calmness to dream,” he explained. Lucas also began his study of studio arts in Worcester. He studied at Clark University before going on to Tufts University for his Masters degree in Fine Arts.

In one aspect of his work, Lucas enjoys the meditative qualities he finds in photography. His compilation, The Rorschach Series, brings together many dichotomous elements. “I put together combinations of my parents’ hands. They’re divorced, and yet that closeness is presented as the photographic truth,” he shared. Lucas also tackles the inherent differences between the mediums. His photos seem to jump off the page. “There’s a definite sculptural feel to them even though they’re straight, plain photography.”

“Photography to me is about holding onto things,” Lucas said. “It gives a sense of tangibility to the witnessing of a relationship and that love.”

So how do hammering, welding, and sawing fit into this vision? According to Lucas, perfectly. To him, it’s all about putting together two parts of himself. “I’m able to satisfy both sides, working in the manner I do. In sculpture you have the physical aspect of wrestling with these materials to bring them into a balance, but then you step back and think about it and plan. That’s what I really like about sculpture ~ that back and forth play between the physical and the cerebral.”

One look at any of his pieces will illustrate the amount of thought Lucas puts into his work. In Love’s Protest #5, layers of metal shift from houses to skyscrapers in the background, while photos of lovers across the panel form a narrative.

When these two types of media come together in his studio, Lucas forges bonds between different materials and different planes.

“A lot of the assemblages end up being about the tension between the reality of something that’s really there like the steel, and then combining it with photography, in which you’re always looking at what’s being represented.” Lucas said. “You can feel the tension in those stressed surfaces of metal, and the photo of something that’s not there at all. That’s what I like to explore the most.”

For more information about the artist or to purchase pieces of his work, contact Arlette Kayafas via www.gallerykayafas.com or Jonathan Lucas via www.jonathanlucasart.com.

Photo at top of page: Love’s Protest #5