Looking at a Caterpillar, 2017, platinum silicone rubber, phosphorescent pigment, dimensions variable
After Ruskin's Bell Jar, 2009, glass, platinum silicone rubber, wire, 9 x 5 x 5 inches, Edition 2 of 10
Frozen Dandelions, 2012, platinum silicone rubber, phosphorescent pigment, 12 x 10 x 10 inches, Edition 1 of 2
Rose is Obsolete, 2008, rubber and phosphorescent pigment, 18 x 13.5 x 7 inches
Studio Floor with Dandelions and Firefly, 2010, rubber, phosphorescent pigment, 13.5 x 25 x 13 inches
Fly on Bulb, 2018, platinum silicone rubber, wire, 5 x 4.5 inches
Double Dolly with Fly, 2021, edition 1 of 3, platinum silicone rubber, wire, 9.25 x 18 x 12 inches
Self Portrait as Fly with Glasses, 2017, edition 3 of 3, platinum silicone rubber, wire, plastic, 2.75 x 5 x 6 inches
Fly Trap, 2017, platinum silicone rubber, phosphorescent pigment, 17 x 20 x 4 inches
Poppy Juice, 2017, platinum silicone rubber, phosphorescent pigment, 20 x 40 x 20 inches
Jeannne Silverthorne came of age as an artist when women sculptors often used Eva Hesse as inspiration and this was true for Silverthorne as well. Yet her work aligns more closely with the “handmade readymades” of Robert Gober whose sinks and cribs are rooted in memory. Nature is ever present in her work: dandelions and weeds grow between rubber floorboards, trompe l’oeil sunflowers and flies become still-lifes, her Memento Mori. Since 2007, Silverthorne has been making a functional rubber crate for each sculpture that, upon reaching its destination and contents unpacked, becomes part of the exhibition. Her work is quiet and poignant, her subjects imbued with humility and materiality.
Silverthorne received a BA and an MA from Temple University. For over two decades she showed with McKee Gallery in New York. One person museum exhibitions include PS1, NY; the ICA, Philadelphia; Phillips Collection, Washington D.C; and the Whitney Museum, New York. In 2017, she was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship. Her work is included in many major museum collections, including MoMA, New York; MFA, Houston; SFMOMA, San Francisco; and the Whitney Museum in New York. Recent exhibitions include The Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Marc Straus, New York; and McKee Gallery, New York.