The Surprisingly Precarious Underbelly
Graphite, charcoal, ink, prisma color on paper, 81 x 51 cm, 2010

“Jade Townsend’s highly theatrical sculptures and installations use familiar imagery to explore themes of displacement, allegory, and alchemy. With subjects drawn from history, literature, popular culture, and everyday life. Towsend’s works integrate many types of materials in a diverse range of forms. While varied in appearance, his art is interconnected through its underlying themes, use of recurring visual motifs, combination of found and fabricated elements, and overall dramatic sensibility. Initially a painter of abstract compositions, Townsend turned to making three-dimensional work to better explore complex concepts.
Regardless of their final form, Jade Townsend’s sculptures, installations (and drawings) use theatrical techniques to engage an audience. Once in his control, viewers see a darker, anarchistic view of the world."

-Excerpt from New Image Sculpture by Rene Paul Barilleaux, Curator of Art after 1945 at the McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX.

Jade Townsend was born in 1977 in Des Moines, Iowa. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.