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 November
1 - December 17, 2004
In the Dadian Gallery:
The Square Halo:
Constructions and Collages by John Sager
 Artist’s
Statement
With all beings and
all things we shall be as relatives —
Sioux Indian
A square is a human
form, one that does not occur in nature. A square halo depicts a saintly
personage who was still living at the time of the artwork. A circle is perfect;
so is Heaven. Earth is imperfect; so is the square. The “Square Halo” reflects
that my assemblages and collages are square or rectangular in shape. I believe
that true art glows like a halo and outlives the artist.
 Objects
have a unique history: they have had human companions. As collector, I find
objects that want to be together, to be companions in a new life. In my role as
joiner, I deal with surface and form, sequence and juxtaposition. I try to turn
chaos into order by whatever means possible, sometimes by accident. I build upon
a foundation of surrealism with very real objects. Assemblage is well suited to
the duality of “the parts” and “the whole.”
 My
first concern is visual. I try to add another dimension to our perceptions of
everyday objects, turning “ordinary” to “extraordinary.” I believe an artwork
can be harmonious yet challenging to the viewer. My last concern is to awaken
the imagination.
 The
art of assemblage is the real joining of separate objects into a cohesive whole.
The word “religion” is derived from a word meaning to reconnect. The religious
task is to put the split life back together. Where the two become one in a
commingling is often where the individual glimpses the Eternal Being.
 The
20th century has been considered an era of fragmentation. I try to pick up the
fragments and create something whole.
Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully
understood.
— I Corinthians 13:12
John Sager
 Curator’s
Statement
I first encountered the
work of John Sager in 1997, when I was invited to jury the
Artes Sagrados
exhibition at Concordia University, in Austin, Texas. His assemblage, “an Idea
of God” caught both my eye and my imagination. Its careful juxtaposition of a
number of objects evoking the working lives of women and men , along with the
clever ambiguity of its title, asked me to consider whether the artist was
trying to convey an idea about God; or if, perhaps, we should think of radios
and irons and tractor parts, as well as chicken bones, as God’s own ideas.
 In
the years since then, Sager has continued to gather the detritus of other
people’s lives and to assemble the disparate parts into evocative, thoughtful,
and astonishingly elegant constructions. A careful look at each of the works in
this exhibition reveals the artist’s easy familiarity with the conventions and
concerns of Western art as well as the playful seriousness with which he
approaches matters of faith.
 In
“Boy Away from Home,” for instance, Sager builds a fragile house out of old
magic-lantern slides. Some tell the story of the Prodigal in a crude,
illustrative style paired with narrative text; others reproduce well-known
artworks depicting a variety of religious themes. The house is illuminated from
within by an old-fashioned light bulb. This deceptively simple structure is both
glass house, carrying a warning for those who might aspire to live within; and
lighthouse, a beacon that warns people of the dangers outside. The house,
itself, becomes a magic lantern, onto which viewers can project their own hopes
and fears about being far from either their earthly or heavenly homes.
 There
are many more layers of meaning that could be found in this piece, as well as
the 23 other works in the show. But before and beyond these thoughts and ideas,
there is the sheer, breathtaking beauty of broken venetian blinds or violin bows
that become wings; rusted metal gears and desiccated rosebuds that spring forth
with new life from the end of time; or cookie-cutter angels that fly upward
through broken bits of glass, turning negative space into solid evidence of
God’s unending grace.
Deborah Sokolove
Curator, Dadian Gallery
send comments or questions about the gallery to
the curator at:
dsokolove@wesleysem.edu
the copyright of individual works of art belongs to the
relevant artist
please do not copy or distribute
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