Art / Jay Bolotin

From the artist

:: Account ::

There is always a dis­com­fort when asked to write a state­ment about one’s own work. I have avoid­ed it, think­ing that the work either stands or falls on its own—like a bas­tard child let loose in the world (proud­ly) to fend for them­selves. And yet, there are some words I have returned to over and over. They are from William Blake’s prophet­ic poem, “Mil­ton.”

Judge then of thy Own Self: thy Eter­nal Lin­ea­ments explore;
What is Eter­nal & what Change­able? & what Annihilable?
The Imag­i­na­tion is not a State: it is the Human Exis­tence itself!
Affec­tion or Love becomes a State, when divid­ed from Imagination.
The Mem­o­ry is a State always, & the Rea­son is a State
Cre­at­ed to be Anni­hi­lat­ed & a new Ratio Created.
What­ev­er can be Cre­at­ed can be Anni­hi­lat­ed. Forms cannot.
The oak is cut down by the axe, the lamb falls by the knife;
But their Forms Eter­nal exist, for­ev­er. Amen! Hallelujah!

These words, these ques­tions, have been my friend—accompanied me on any path I’ve attempted—like a touch­stone one returns to when the path is uncertain.

Jay Bolotin was born in Lex­ing­ton, Ken­tucky, in 1949. He now lives in Cincin­nati, Ohio. His work is includ­ed in many pub­lic and pri­vate col­lec­tions, includ­ing the Muse­um of Mod­ern Art (NY), the Penn­syl­va­nia Acad­e­my of the Fine Arts, The Aus­tralian Nation­al Muse­um, and the Smith Col­lege Muse­um of Art. Sev­er­al exhi­bi­tions are being planned sur­round­ing The Book of Only Enoch, a port­fo­lio of prints com­plet­ed in 2015 and a cen­tral ele­ment in the nar­ra­tive of a motion pic­ture in progress.