The Sweet Spot Sculpture

Billowing animal forms in a cloudscape, demonic symbolism in an inkblot and lewd visual puns in the supermarket produce section – all are familiar products of our misfiring, pattern-seeking brains. For most of us, such visions offer only passing amusement or perhaps some pseudo-Freudian insight, but little lasting consideration. For Ali Jeffery, however, they attest to the preconscious genius at the very heart of the visual system. It is a spontaneous creativity that comes to bear, resolving visual ambiguity into primal, ‘best guess’ hypotheses. For Ali this is a faculty and resource too fertile to ignore. It’s the wellspring of her art. It informs every stage of her process from the initial inspiration – the discovery of a characterful root or branch or the fortuitous convergence of some wandering marks on a page – and through development towards completion. The wood is carved and the suggested image is patiently evolved, nudged with wit and restraint towards a possible interpretation. Ali achieves a masterful and seductive finish in all her media – ceramics, sculpture, drawing and photography - yet preserves in the final form that element of free-floating ambiguity which provokes the eye to enjoy ever more possibilities. Ewan McClure, September 2015