Jay Sylvester
The Limits of Control, 2025
Wild Wisteria, Bittersweet, Honeysuckle vines, Sagebrush branches, Bamboo stalks and Cotton twine 63" x 78" in total. Each separate piece: 30" x 24"
This series explores man’s ill-fated and hubristic attempt to impose his will on nature. These assemblages are installed here in a formal grid pattern to amplify the tension in the juxtaposition of order versus the freeform.
Jay Sylvester
Maelstrom, 2023
Wild Wisteria, Bittersweet, Honeysuckle vines, Bamboo yarn and Cotton twine 68" x 42" x 2"
Jay Sylvester
Leviathan, 2023
Wild Wisteria, Bittersweet and Honeysuckle vines, Cotton twine 90" x 192" x 5"
This piece is a continuation of my series of works which are based on our relationship with nature, and the collective hubris that drives us to believe that we can fully wrestle it to our will. I found inspiration in the ancient myth of the monstrous sea serpent, Leviathan, who represents the embodiment of chaos that threatens to envelope the material world. The viewer is placed in the position of a lone soul adrift in the swirling maelstrom of the ocean. Looking up in desperation for a break in the waves, they find not a life-line to safety, but the menacing tentacle of an unknowable creature from the dark depths below.
