Artist Ben Jackel sits next to his piece “nEUROn” made of mahogany with a graphite finish in his studio in Culver City(Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times / April 19, 2012)

Holly Myers profiles Ben Jackel, in his studio as he prepares for Zero Percent Contained (opening May 24) for the Los Angeles Times

In a short video produced by LA Louver in advance of Ben Jackel’s solo show, one encounters the artist taking an ax, quite literally, to one of his sculptures. He’s chipping away at a block of Douglas fir to form an enormous replica of the head of a pole-mounted weapon called a halberd, in a style traditionally carried by the personal guards of the elders of Saxony around the year 1600 — as he quickly clarifies when I mistakenly call it a spearhead. The piece, which, at 131/2 feet tall, would clearly do damage if it fell on you, is titled “Pay Attention." 

…For all the research that lies behind Jackel’s sculptures, it is their material presence that’s riveting. In addition to the towering halberd and the drones, the show will include several clay replicas of water fixtures and hydrants — an extension of an "emergency preparedness” series that included the clay replicas of firefighting equipment (extinguishers, hoses, sprinkler heads) in Jackel’s last LA Louver show, and that was inspired in part by Hurricane Katrina. He sees fire extinguishers and hydrants as a kind of inverse weaponry: “These special protective objects that are there to help you, but to help you on the worst day, maybe.” Made with a clay that turns black when fired and coated with a thin layer of beeswax, they’re mysteriously absorbing objects, both delicate and sturdy, with a surface that looks more like cast iron than clay.

Read the full profile online here and see more of Ben Jackel’s work at LALOUVER.COM