John Duff

John Duff has been making sculpture in a loft in Chinatown since the 1970s. Using clay, cement, fiberglass, turtle wax, resin, and things people toss on the sidewalk, he turns them into something precious. Maybe even a little magical.

The show spans decades, from work made in the 1960s to just recently. These are quiet forms cobbled together with care. Hard material seeps into softness. Concrete plays with foam. Bicycle chains become a puddle of cement. Clam shells painted green and strung together with wire look like fishing nets on the docks. Or a necklace. Tough. Yet touching.

Somehow, they all have a fleeting quality, as if they might have been made just yesterday and might not be here tomorrow. They remind us that life isn’t about the materials given to you, but what you do with them. Because really, these pieces shouldn’t be so beautiful. Yet here they are, and here we are, wondering when we can go back and look at them again.

John Duff (b. Lafayette, Indiana, 1943) lives and works in New York City's Chinatown. He attended the San Francisco Art Institute before moving to the Lower East Side in 1967. Like his art, he's been woven into the fabric of New York City's art scene. Duff has lived in the same loft on Doyers Street since 1971.