Logan Lecture

Overview

Los Angeles-based sculptor Ben Jackel works primarily in clay, wood, and stoneware to create objects that engage topics of warfare, weaponry, and disaster relief equipment; these works range from cannons to Humvees to fire extinguishers. A native of Colorado, Jackel was born and raised in Aurora and studied ceramics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Additionally, he received his MFA at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with ceramicist Adrian Saxe and sculptor Charles Ray.

One sculpture on loan from the Logans’ collection is Jackel’s Resolution Authority—a mahogany and graphite drone suspended from the ceiling, which provides a critical point of reflection in one of the galleries of Disruption: Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection. This sculpture, created throughout 2009—2013 by Jackel, identifies an important component of recent warfare and global surveillance and is based on the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone. For this upcoming talk, Jackel will discuss this work, while also shedding light on several of the themes explored in the larger exhibition.