Meet Jordan Segal | Artist and Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jordan Segal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, what inspires you?
My work is very personal, drawing heavily from my life. Much of my work channels my experience with grief and disease, such as my mom’s battle with cancer and untimely death, my experience growing up near the World Trade Center post-9/11, and my adolescent struggles. These experiences are a constant reminder of how fragile the body is and that death is always around the corner, which I process through art. Despite these realities, art is a powerful way to digest my thoughts and emotions and help others feel more resilient. My sculptures and paintings manifest these topics through often disconcerting representations of the body. My aesthetic vision is partly from growing up in New York, a gruff, dirty city. I feel a powerful connection with the city, which I love despite its flaws.

Other artists also inspire me. I am fortunate to live in NYC, where I can access many great galleries and museums. I almost always leave a good show excited to make art myself. For example, I saw a Degas/Manet Show at the Met. It was truly unique to have a survey of the two artists and have the relationship of the two modern masters contextualized in a museum setting. Later in the week, I spent the day looking through various galleries where I saw fantastic work, including that of Alice Mackler at the Kerry Schuss Gallery and Kari Cholnoky at the Nicelle Beauchen Gallery, two shows I deeply connected with. In addition to absorbing the lessons of modern and contemporary art, I revere ancient art. I’ve recently been making masks and looking back at ancient art from around the globe. Traveling through time and being exposed to different artistic visions is genuinely inspiring. All this filters into my work and reinforces my connection with art and art history.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Being an artist is like being an alchemist: I transform materials like paint, trash, recycled containers, paper mache, toilet paper, and various adhesives into art with a life of its own. I mutilate and manipulate these materials in different ways. For example, I sand, scrape, stain, smear, apply paint, collage, wrap, engrave, assemble, and layer. I am not the only artist who makes mixed-media work, but I’m adding to that conversation with my highly visceral and personal vision. I am proud of my accomplishments as I have taken many creative risks. Instead of making traditionally aesthetically pleasing work, I am specifically tackling my relationship with the body and mortality head-on with the outcome of some rather grotesque works.

Professionally, artists need to be very stubborn and resilient. I’ve learned over the years that the primary goal needs to be two-pronged: to make the best art you can and to form an artistic community. It’s easy to get bogged down with conventional ideas of success, but that is not necessarily the end goal

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend visited me, I would show them my favorite New York City haunts. I’d start by exploring the Lower East Side (LES) and Chinatown. We would get a scrumptious brunch at Golden Diner, making sure to order the pancakes smothered in honey. Then, I would take them on a tour of the gallery scene that extends from Chinatown to the LES, ending with dinner, drinks, and a movie at The Metrograph, my favorite movie theater. My other top destinations include the American Folk Art Museum on the Upper West Side, the Ocean View Cafe in Brighton Beach, and the Little Red Lighthouse in Fort Washington Park. Of course, I would take them around by bike as that is the best way to explore the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to my father. I primarily credit my dad, a painter himself, for exposing me to the arts by taking me to exciting shows in NYC in my youth and through his eclectic collection of art books. I remember being obsessed with these books towards the end of high school when I began my artistic journey. This exposure was the most critical aspect of my creative development. I’m grateful that my parents, family, and friends have all been very supportive throughout my artistic journey, and I will always appreciate that.

In addition, I have had the incredible pleasure of meeting and working with many outstanding artists. Some of the closest and most talented people I know include Lena Ruth Schwartz, Yasmeen Abdallah, Will Kaplan, Ben Lenovitz, Sam Bennett, Masha Bychkova, Carletta Joy Walker, and my brother and sister, Jonny and Gaby Segal. I also want to give a special shoutout to my godfather, Brandon Judell, a writer, film critic, and professor at City College. He has been a parental figure in many ways, exposing me to many films, books, and plays. I am deeply grateful to him.

Website: jmsegal.com

Instagram: @jordanmsegal

Image Credits
Photographers: Jill LeVine Yi Hsuan Lai (Shan) Ababil Anwar