“The Cathedral” by the sculptor, wood engraver and editorial illustrator James Grashow, is completely carved out of basswood. Unveiled in September, it has been one hell of a weight on his shoulders: “I never did anything like it before,” he told me.
Grashow has made mammoth pieces out of paper and cardboard. “Of course I did woodcuts, but never carved like this, [and] had to completely retool. It was a commission but it was all my idea, inspired by a now 82-year-old man (me) trying to figure out how to keep his faith alive in an increasingly chaotic world.” He made anthropomorphic skyscrapers from cardboard and house-plants-as-houses-as-plants from wood, and like Jesus, he’s turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. Now, a new documentary, Jimmy & the Demons, documents his work.
In the film, this prolific sculptor and printmaker—whose work includes massive installations, illustrations for the New York Times and even a Jethro Tull album cover—reveals the creation of his magnum opus. He spent four years creating the five-foot sculpture depicting Christ bearing the weight of a Renaissance-era cathedral on his back while demons—both real and imagined—claw him from below.
Director Cindy Meehl’s intense film follows Jimmy’s multi-year feat. He once told me that his art was a totem against death. Which it may be, but this sculpture is also a competition between light and darkness, “a devotional tribute to life’s joys and impermanence.” Meehl captures the daily physical and mental demands of Grashow’s craft alongside his humor, philosophical depth and enduring love for his wife, Guzzy. “What emerges is not merely a portrait of an acclaimed artist whose work has graced The Met and MoMA, but a celebration of creativity’s power to confront life,” a Tribeca promotion reads.
Catch Jimmy & the Demons at the storied film festival in June.
Photos courtesy James Grashow
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