Artist Jefrë goes inside, scales down (somewhat)
Artist Jefrë, who specializes in mammoth public sculptures and installations, has been working on “The Victor,” a 24-story-high statue. But his first solo museum show, at Orlando Museum of Art, begins with a grain of rice.
OK, not exactly a single grain. The Central Florida artist can’t abandon his usual scale altogether: There are 10,000 pounds of brown and white rice in the exhibition’s first major installation, “Rice Field.”
Made from rice that had passed its expiration date, the work illustrates a key difference between the museum’s “Points of Connection” show and Jefrë’s usual work. His civic art, such as “The Beacon” and “The Code Wall” at Lake Nona Town Center, looks out at the public. “Points of Connection” looks within the artist himself.
Not that museum-goers won’t find plenty about the artwork that speaks to their lives and experiences. As the exhibition title states, the work is about discovering “Points of Connection.”
Take “Rice Field,” for example. The work — which stretches the length of a gallery — reflects the Filipino heritage of Jefrë, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. before he was born in Chicago. But the 13 bands of brown and white rice represent the American flag, and there’s something about the way those pathways wander around hills that suggests the pathways we’re all on to find our identities — and what it means to be an American of any background.
As I toured the exhibit with Jefrë, he reflected on the journey his parents made to get to the U.S., a journey repeated by others countless times through history from different corners of the globe and a journey that forms the basis of this nation. But once we’re here?
“Then it’s up to you to create your own path,” he said.
Jefrë’s own path has taken unexpected twists and turns. In 2007, at the age of 35, he suffered
a heart attack while in Miami. Triple bypass surgery followed to undo the damage from a genetic condition. “I am constantly generating plaque” in his arteries, he said. “I still am.”
The health scare fuels creativity: Lifesaving stents make a bouquet, the pile of pills representing the amount of medicine Jefrë has ingested to manage his heart disease creates a colorful mountain.
It also gives another personal component to the exhibition as the heart attack influenced his creative development.
“That’s when I had that moment of ‘What kind of legacy have I left here?’ said Jefrë, who was born Jefrë Figueras Manuel. “I got this idea: ‘I’m going into great cities and create ‘your moment.’ The heart disease allowed me to think big.”
And so he did, creating large public works for cities such as Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia and San Antonio, along with places farther afield: London, Abu Dhabi and Manila. Besides his Lake Nona work, which also includes the “Disco” Dog, locally Jefrë has designed a huge installation for the new terminal at Orlando International Airport — a towering sculpture that passengers will actually travel through.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, that work is on hold for the moment — but a small model can be seen at the entrance of the museum’s exhibit.
“I’ve always said public art should be one of a kind,” he said, explaining his works are designed to capture the spirit of their destinations. “The people
and the emotions are part of them.”
A breathtaking view of larger-than-life shiny humanoid creatures fills
one area of the museum. The figures, with building-like blocks for heads, reflect what goes into living: time, faith, passion.
The complexities of modern life also are represented. One figure takes a knee in the now-familiar sight of protest against
injustice. Viewers are able to record their own response to the statue, and a rolling log of feelings is projected behind the figure.
Creating a completely different feeling is a representation of love, where a viewer’s eyes become part of the work. Covered in living sheet moss, with a soundscape by Grammy-winning Ayo the Producer, that gallery is a place of respite.
The final room is a series of suspended, translucent heads. They “speak” in different languages when triggered by guests, once again emphasizing the connectivity of the human race.
Jefrë hopes a museum exhibition will let viewers experience his art in a new way.
“In public work, there’s a building over here, a manhole over here, trees over here,” he said. “In a museum, it’s a blank canvas. The noise has gone away.”
A poem Jefrë wrote guides viewers through “Points of Connection.”
“I am creative, I am
kind,” it states as it draws to a close. “I am sensitive, I am blessed.”
“My heart beats. I can breathe.”