There Already Is Blood

The visceral impact of Jordan Eagles' work at "New Blood Paintings" is immediate and unshakeable. Not, as some critics have suggested, because the source of Eagles' chosen medium is a slaughterhouse, but because his abstract images are at once quiet and violent. Invoking astronomy, molecular biology, and transmigration, his pieces are like snapshots of creation. Cell mutation, star formation, the redshift of quasars, the dance of corpuscles … it's in there, sometimes all at once, as with C1, an elegant three-foot sphere which oscillates between ovum and protoplanet according to the viewer's mood. While tricky to handle, Eagles' chosen pigment is undeniably rich and complex. The artist employs multiple layers of resin to capture the blood at different stages of decomposition, creating massive kaleidoscopes of texture, color, and time. A 600-pound piece may appear elegant in its simplicity, and almost supernatural in its ability to produce light; under closer examination, the same piece might reveal an intricate universe of minuscule lava flows, tree bark, and featherdown.
Feb. 7-March 21, 2008