Australian sculptor Sam Jinks has created an extraordinary exhibition of the human subject at its most vulnerable and alive to serve as the linchpin of the visual arts strand of Galway International Arts Festival.
Sam Jinks’ In The Flesh is displaying at the newly created Festival Gallery on William Street for the two week duration of Galway International Arts Festival.
In the Flesh features breathtakingly images of people crafted with real human hair, and so lifelike in tone and feeling that you can practically feel the flush under their skin.
His hyper-realistic creations might be crafted from clay casts, poured silicone, fibreglass, and resin, but they capture feelings of intimacy, fragility, and strength that have nothing synthetic about them.
For this exhibition at Galway International Arts Festival Sam has brought a mix of new and existing sculpture which explore the themes of intimacy, empathy, alienation, mortality and acceptance.
“The viewer becomes suspended in an intense moment of intimacy with the work, a moment that cannot ordinarily be achieved amongst strangers.”
“As we stare at the figures frozen in states of vulnerability, be it babyhood, old age or quiet contemplation, we glimpse our own vulnerabilities reflected back.”
The Festival Gallery is located on William Street. The entrance is just behind the bronze sculptures of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde and is between Premoli shoe shop and Matt O’Flaherty’s chemist.
