AJ Fosik

Dare Nothing, Hope for Nothing

2010

Wood, paint, nails

In the Teeth of Stupefying Odds

2010

Wood, paint, nails

Embracing Stochasticity

Wood, paint, nails

The Shepherd Inevitably Consumes the Flock

Wood, paint, nails 

AJ Fosik was born in Detroit, Michigan. In 2003, he received his BFA in Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. Since then, he has participated in a number of solo galleries, as well as group exhibitions. Fosik primarily works with wood, and his themes are reminiscent of native american culture and religious deities that live within the human mind.

Fosik is a big inspiration to me; I could look at his sculptures all day. The use of color is one of the strongest points in his work. While some of the palettes remain safe and warm, one such as Embracing Stochasticity take a risk and combine many different vibrant colors, and end up working quite well. No color is ever dull or muted; even the browns and grays tend to pop in contrast with the colors around them.

The taxidermy-like busts of these beasts all have reoccurring qualities to them: multiple facial features such as sets of eyes and mouths, uniform scales, teeth, geometric face structures, and a very tribal aspect to them. Fosik once said that these characters were representations of religious manifestations of human spirituality, and that the beasts were the appearances of things that we fear. With that in mind, the figures become much more menacing and intimidating. Representational of religion or not, these sculptures definitely get the audience unnerved, and thinking. Imagine if they all came to life, what would they do?