Having worked in clay for more than 26 years, Jay Strommen has become one of the masters of capturing, depicting, and above all, constructing, and in this case, deconstructing an organic work to an abstraction with form.

This ‘bowl’, from muddy clay, has been cracked, ripped, and smoothed, much in the Voulkosian manner. In its most abstract appearance and construction, it remains a bowl - a bowl that has been deconstructed down to its most basic elements, and craftily put back together as an abstraction of its original form. In contrast to the incredible roughness of its many, many, pieces, Strommen has added his own twist of polishing with a liquid cooled diamond polisher in the most discrete of places. They are hard to find, and one has to go on a tactile journey to find them. But once found, one experiences the smoothest of the smoothes.

The top of the piece is probably one-half again wider than the bottom, giving it excellent proportions for the object it represents. Most pieces are round, both small and large. The obvious form is covered with a smattering of the very rough remaining pieces from the original.

It has a startling effect upon the viewer at first glance, and some proof of the mastery of this work is that this effect never goes away. One is constantly searching for this piece or that, to make some sense in our concrete world. There is none. One has the privilege of living with this mystery on a daily basis, and all the gratification it provides. It is a resolved whole in my mind and eyes, and I simply revel in the beauty it provides as it is.

Mr. Strommen’s biography can be found at the beginning of this sight. The piece you are viewing here, and have a chance to own, is who he is, where he has come from and to where he is going - never to be pinned down.

Once discovered, this work will be quickly purchased by a museum, permanent gallery, or some other prestigious final environment.

CODE #6-88