Bio

Captivated by the potential of sculpture to simultaneously halt and instigate movement, Jill Spector (b. 1976 York, Pennsylvania) makes sculptures, photographs, and collages that explore choreography through abstraction. If dance can be understood as sculpture enacted by the body, then her work argues that sculpture can be dance made with inert materials. Spector often combines plaster and papier-mâché forms with wood or metal rectilinear shapes, embracing a variety of techniques, including casting, carving, and assemblage. The integration of two-dimensional imagery into her three-dimensional forms hints at the cultural artifacts that inspire her yet never push the work explicitly toward representation. She incorporates photographs that she has taken of bodies engaged in activities and adheres them to the exterior of the sculpture, inserts them into openings, or lays them beneath the work like a two-dimensional “pedestal.” Spector’s collages served as diagrams for the two sculptures she created for Made in L.A. Images of a stage, hands, and a cardboard box are combined with more abstract forms that reflect her fascination with a range of artistic precedents, from the second-century BC marble Winged Victory to Simone Forti’s dance Huddle.