We were lucky to catch up with Jay Jax recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jay, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
As a lifelong student of classical and modern art, my own fascination with the works of 20th century pioneers such as sculptor Henry Moore has guided my mission as an artist and influenced my career as a printer and now a gallery director/curator. The power of three-dimensional art as a tool for conveying thought, feeling, and mood has always intrigued me. Its use of line, curve, and negative space all add to an emboldened experience. Multi-sensory appeal only deepens the attraction and interest, capturing the viewer’s curiosity. In this way, the message of each piece becomes central to its interpretation, however abstract its form may be. As a sculptor, I am in a uniquely powerful position to have my artistic intent known and understood by the viewer to some degree, although each interpretation is individualized. The philosophy of engaging with my work through touch and viewing in the round allows my clients an “up close and personal” experience. I encourage similar sharing by all of the artists with whom I collaborate to bring our public the Art Machine Gallery. Together we are working toward achieving a common mission – to increase accessibility to art and artists, and to promote simple and understandable art education for all citizens.
Jay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My abilities and skills have evolved naturally through my studies of classical and modern art, my curiosity about the creation process, and my experimentation with a variety of media. The subtractive, “direct carve” approach I use lends itself use of mediums such as a large pieces of marble or, in my case, a reusable block of found wood. Living in the Texas coastal area affords direct access to trees damaged by storms and submerged within swamplands, and from this availability sprang some of my earliest pieces. Opportunities with several master carvers helped me to broaden the possibilities that lay within the architecture of the wood block itself, and expanded my comfort in using the chisel to extract the smooth forms. Early on, I made the decision to minimize use of power tools to allow the human qualities of my sculpture to remain more intact. Over time, a broader range of chiseling, sawing, smoothing, and finishing tools has found its way to my studio, working to refine my skills as a woodworker. In many ways, my practical handiwork skills have paved the road to my success as an artist, sculptor, and gallery owner, as I can skillfully modify just about anything to elevate its presence visually. An artistic eye is an invaluable tool to possess in my business, and that eye is sure to grow and shift to focus as larger roles are adopted.
When my printing work was focused on achieving visual perfection for decades, retraining that eagle eye to maintain an inventory of visually arresting art is not that much of a stretch of talent. The same discerning eye that led to success as a printer has easily broadened its vision to include a wider variety of styles to sort through to develop a top-notch gallery presentation. My often eclectic taste in art allows for diverse artistic inclusion within the Art Machine Gallery. This broad inclusiveness, held together through cautious curation, is readily apparent within our gallery. In solidarity with the “art for the people” philosophy of inclusion, we see truth and beauty within all kinds of artwork, and that philosophy is carried over to our shoppers and collectors through our collaborative teamwork.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I can infuse a bit of a love story here, as my business partner and co-founder Barbara also happens to be my wife. We met by fateful chance when she arrived in Houston from her home in Louisiana to spend the New Year’s holiday. The strong camaraderie and cooperation between us was evident from the start, and soon we were off on a path of collaboration in business as well as life. Our strength in marital harmony was built by a mutual willingness to use logic and performance to guide our choices in terms of division of labor. Our agreed-upon perception that whomever was better at a given task should take those work areas as primary responsibilities made assignments easy as we divided our work and home labors. With this logical decision, we were able to bring our best personal skills to the company and accomplish our portions of the workload independently. The flexibility each of us showed in working through snags in our process served as another bonus as we built our business model. The fact that we both were open to compartmentalizing problem areas also gave our company sharp focus for problem solving, which prevented work related issues from spilling over into our personal relationship. With decades of these experiences under our belt, there was already a strong business model in place to support the founding and evolution of our art gallery business. In keeping with our tried and true formula for success, we each bring our natural ability and specialized skills to our art sales venue. Our mutual desire to advance the accessibility of art through positivity is helping to de-mystify the creation and self expression process for everyone. We see evidence of this daily as we interact with our shoppers, and this allows a promotion of the arts at a cultural level. This brings us an intrinsic joy that has a positive effect on all aspects of our lives as partners.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
My sculpture and art are very personal to me when they reach the phase of being finished products. For many pieces, I have cradled them in my arms like children for weeks as I delicately teased an elegant form from within their mass. Many have presented some unique and unforeseeable obstacles that challenged me to my core as a creator and a “father” to this wooden “baby.” Properly honoring the spirit of the tree from which the block of wood came was not always an emotionally simple undertaking, but with this kind of connection in place, it is easier to share many interesting stories about each piece with viewers and buyers. A friendly engagement with my public around the soul of each piece has brought quite a following to my art career, and now has evolved to include my gallery. I encourage each collaborating artist to adapt a similar style of accessibility to provide art education from a personal point of view. Each talented artist can speak to their creative inspirations and processes in shopper-friendly banter, creating a lively atmosphere for everyone. As we work each day to promote artists and art at the cultural level, we are creating a dynamic shopping experience for potential collectors of all tastes, budgets, and ages. Learning never stops at the Art Machine Gallery.
In a show of support for the innovation seen within our business, the gallery was recently nominated as one of the top five art galleries of Houston in an annual consumer poll conducted by the Chronicle newspaper. We are currently in the running to receive ‘Best Art Gallery’ status depending on the voting outcome.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_machine_gallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artmachinegallery/
- Youtube: Art Machine Gallery
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/art-machine-gallery-houston