Jeff’s art practice combines traditional sculpting methods with modern fabrication techniques to explore notions of deindustrialization and the transition to contemporary digital technologies.

He was born in Pittsburgh after its industrial peak and his work explores the objects, optimism and sense of community that characterized industry that he heard about in stories growing up.

Jeff’s practice evokes a sense of play as the sculptures and paintings use color to reinvigorate and turn  analog tools and machinery into playful toy-like assemblages. Through the forms’ implied potential and the colors’ inherent optimism, he asks the viewers to envision possibilities.

Q & A:

Three words to describe your art:

Abstract, playful, industrial

Favorite at-home activity when you were a kid:

When I was very young, one of my favorite activities was to color drawings of superheroes and supervillains that my brother would draw. He would draw images out of Nintendo Power that my mom would photocopy the images from and this would allow me to color them anyway I wanted. As I got older, I began to draw my own images to color and reproduce the same way. These are my earliest memories of creating art.

Favorite thing to do in quarantine:

I was able to spend time working on a small sculpture series. I enjoyed the intimate time I was able to spend with the work. This work led up to an exhibition in July at Unsmoked Systems Artspace in Braddock. I also spent a lot of time cooking and perfecting a salsa recipe. The combination of good food and art has never let me down yet.

Instagram:  @jeff_repko