Joseph Seigenthaler

ARTIST: Joseph Seigenthaler

DOB/PLACE: Nashville, Tennessee in 1959

RESIDENCE: Chicago, Illinois

EDUCATION: BFA 1981, Memphis College of Art/painting

1984 to 1986: Appalachian Center for Craft Smithville, Tennessee

EMPLOYMENT: figurative clay/sculpture, U of Montana, Missoula and at Harold Washington College in Chicago...also the figure in clay at The Art Institute of Chicago.

MAJOR SHOWS/GALLERIES/COMMISSIONS: http://www.joeseigenthaler.com/Biography.html

MEDIA & TECHNIQUES: figurative sculpture, first using wax techniques and then fired clay

CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION: his art career by building wax sculptures for the Country Music Wax Museums in Nashville & Tamworth, Australia. He then went on to breathe life into the oddest cast of gangly imbeciles that walked straight out of a Brueghel painting. All of them seem to be in a constant state of ecstasy and pain as the withered skin of their ruddy faces fold into grotesque expressions. His work is meticulous and lovingly crafted, bringing a frail humanity to his absurd characters.

SUBJECT MATTER/THEMES/CONCEPTS DEALT WITH: most recent work includes computer animation loops of his “creatures”.

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/01/joseph-seigenth.html

LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY: http://www.joeseigenthaler.com/

researched by Janet Weyenberg