ONE BLOOD
Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO
Curated by Sarah Buhr
Blood is frequently associated with violence and death, yet it is a critical life-force universal to all humanity. In an era of mass shootings, war, disease, and the urgent struggle over body autonomy and LGBTQI+ rights, blood is a symbolic connective tissue–often sensationalized–its visceral power is undeniable.
New York based artist Jordan Eagles has been working with blood as an artistic medium for over 25 years, addressing themes of life-cycle, corporeality, and regeneration, and has developed techniques for preserving the organic material. Over the past decade Eagles has built an expansive body of work focused on challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) blood donation policy, which advocates suggest is biased, perpetuates stigma and homophobia, and is not in line with modern science. Eagles’ sculptures, panels, screen-prints, photographic, and video works are collaborations created with blood donated by members of the LGBTQI+ community, specifically for the purpose of making artworks and advocating for science and equality.
Eagles utilizes a broad range of techniques in his work and his preservation process retains the natural patterns, colors, and textures of the organic material. Most of the blood in this exhibition is preserved, including sculptures and panels made with medical waste and archival material.
The title of this solo exhibition, ONE BLOOD, references the fact that despite the different backgrounds and serotypes of the blood donors, they are all united for blood equality. This exhibition features the work Blood Mirror, a large resin sculpture made with 59 individual human blood donations, that could have been used for life saving purposes if the FDA’s policy was less discriminatory. For the first time, key works from several of the artist’s series that connect queer blood with American pop culture, comic books, military propaganda, and religious iconography are on view together. The exhibition also includes new works from Eagles’ latest series utilizing Artificial Intelligence.