James Croak Stux Gallery

James Croak’s recent exhibition was dominated by several imposing sculptures, all of which were entitled Dirtmen. These men were cast from solid dirt arranged on steel frames, and are dauntingly realistic. Croak also cast tiny female babies from earth, and used asphalt to make a series of melting hats and umbrellas. The surfaces are captivating, begging to be touched.

The dirtmen appeared in several stances in the installation. A 1987 Dirtman hung from a peg, its feet at face level. Bits of twigs and dirt and little rocks compose the man. His face is blank, distended. Germanic, and the whole body is elongated, pulled down, lifeless – he looks strung up. Three other dirtmen, with overcoats and shovels, form a type of burial party, a lynch mob perhaps. There is a foul odor of death about these works – unjust, forced death. The clothing and sinister connotations bring to mind the felt jackets of Joseph Beuys and also John Armleder’s Brooks Brothers suits.

A more elusive, mysterious piece is Coyote and Window. The coyote (made of solid dirt from a mold poured directly on a dead coyote) seems shrunken and lifeless. Its hard, globular forms suggest a kind of advanced mange gripping the neck and entire body. The thick, wet-looking black window reflects the blue of the street outside. It conjures body fluids, bile, tar and feathering, tar pits. The piece strikes an elegiac, western tone, reminiscent of the works of Sam Shepard.
Vincent Katz