Jay Bolotin: A Jackleg Testament

This exhibition includes numerous drawings, prints, constructed sets and sculptures, and related ephemera that artist Jay Bolotin used to create The Jackleg Testament, Part 2: The Book of Only Enoch, a complex animated film that he was finalizing at the time of his death on May 14, 2024. The richness of story, mood, and precise articulation in every moment of the narrative is a testament to his labor-intensive process of transforming fantastic visions into believable realities. 
 

The film continues a tale started in Part 1: Jack & Eve, a motion picture made by Bolotin animating his woodcut prints. Only Enoch is a boy named after the apocryphal Old Testament Book of Enoch about a man who went to heaven and lived to tell the tale. His story informs the new film, which centers around a character known as Narrator, who sees imagery from the book come to life as he passes through an Appalachian village that includes dilapidated buildings, cobblestone streets, a junk shop, and boisterous birds.
 

While Bolotin served multiple roles in this production (writer, draftsman, actor, director, composer, and cinematographer, to name a few), he was aided by the talents of acclaimed actors and performers including Brad Dourif, Ali Edwards, Dale Hodges, Adale O’Brien, Will Oldham, and many others who contribute voices to the film.

 

Jay Bolotin was a tireless studio artist and a generous collaborator. He exhibited widely at institutions including the Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University; Contemporary Art Center and Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati; Joslyn Art Center, Omaha; Smith College Museum, Northampton, Massachusetts; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Vanderbilt University, Nashville; and John Hansard Museum, Southampton, England; among others. 
 

Special thanks to Michael Solway and his eponymous gallery for their generous support and assistance. Commissioning funds from the UK College of Fine Arts, Art Shechet and Marilyn Robie, Christine and Michael Huskisson, Steve Bloomfield, and Kathy Prescott have made this project possible.

 

IMAGE: Jay Bolotin, still image of the Carnival set.