Jeff Sonhouse, "Poached"

Jeff Sonhouse

Poached

8 color screenprint

Price range: $3,000 through $3,445

This 8 color screenprint by Jeff Sonhouse is comprised of a beautiful variety of surface textures and color. The red background is almost suede-like in nature, especially when juxtaposed with the flatness of the face.

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Year
2016
Edition of
15
Dimensions
29 1/2 x 23 1/4 inches
Authentication

Signed, numbered, dated, and titled by the artist. All Haystack editions come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Masks obscure the figures’ identities, while the unconventional materials adhered to their surfaces expose something of each character’s personality. This balance gives the viewer an entry into the figure’s interior world.”

— Jeff Sonhouse

About the Artwork

This 8 color screenprint by Jeff Sonhouse is comprised of a beautiful variety of surface textures and color. The red background is almost suede-like in nature, especially when juxtaposed with the flatness of the face. The bowtie appears velvety, and the floating eye-shaped marks possess a sheen similar to freshly used graphite. This attention to detail and care for the formal qualities of art-making are quintessential to Sonhouse’s practice.

Poached was printed in collaboration with the artist and Lower East Side Printshop. Each print was created by silkscreen printing (also known as serigraphy). This method requires stenciling techniques wherein ink is pressed onto paper through deliberately exposed areas of a mesh screen one color at a time.    

Curatorial Opinion

In Poached by Jeff Sonhouse, the artist has outfitted the central subject with ample symbolic adornments. First, there is the motorcycle jacket; a symbol of rebellion and cool. Next up is the bow tie, contradicting somewhat the informality of the jacket. Sonhouse’s signature Harlequin pattern fills in for skin, adding a geometric exactitude to the subject’s face. A blue translucent shape juts out from his brow, not unlike a visor.

The features of his face are hybridized; shotgun and face, two barrels standing in for nostrils. Then, most curiously, two Bird in Space sculptures, created by artist Constantin Brancusi in the 1920s, protrude from the figure’s face like strangely positioned horns. Sonhouse’s work is rich with symbolism and history, if you take a closer look.

 

About the Artist

Jeff Sonhouse (b.1968, New York, NY) is a painter and mixed media artist who often depicts images of Black men to address topics of identity in Western culture. By selectively revealing and concealing certain aspects of his figures, he combines fact and mystery for results that are beautifully provocative.

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