ON MAKING A MARK

BY CLAIRE DE DOBAY RIFELJ

Jane Brucker’s work focuses on collected objects, their installations and their individual narratives. For Lost (2006), the artist cast a trove of trinkets in bronze and brass-coins, buttons, candles, and pins-things that people commonly lose and for which they spend inordinate amounts of time seeking. This futile search becomes a daily rehearsal, preparing us for the final loss that we all must endure. Brucker’s castings-some from found objects, others of personal items from her childhood-invite viewers to experience a tangible connection with the work. Unlike most artworks displayed in galleries and museums, these may be touched, and the invitation strengthens the artist’s message of empathy and tranquility.

CLAIRE de DOBAY RIFELJ is the Associate Director of Sprüth Magers and was a curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Dobay Rifelj wrote about Jane Brucker’s work for the exhibition catalogue XPOSITIONS at Laband Gallery, Loyola Marymount University in 2006.