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John Moran had his residency in March 2015, prior to the opening of his exhibition in S12.  Few of the pieces he made during his residency became a part of the exhibition.

When John Moran came to S12 he was already known for his life-sized figurative sculptures created from a combination of sculpted glass and a variety of other materials, including fabric, epoxy resin, latex, and enamels.

From the residency proposal:

“I intend to continue this work in a series titled Flemish Primitives, in which I will create a multi-figure, socio-political installation. I believe the multi-figure arrangement will create more tension and more interaction between the sculptures and the viewers.

In my recent work, glass is used to sculpt any exposed flesh on the figures. The internal glow that glass harnesses gives the figures life, even though they are often on the verge of death. The unexposed body is created through a variety of materials, mainly handcrafted clothing covered in epoxy resin, which gives the appearance of movement to the figures. The internal glow of the glass contrasts the dull sheen of the fabric, giving the illusion of breath and motion.

Realism has been a goal of mine for the past several years, beginning with a series of the American presidents titled American Idols (see attached image). Each of the forty-three heads was sculpted in glass in 2009 and the integration of mixed-media bodies was completed between then and 2012. With each new work since then, i.e. Sale of the Deathman, No Child Left Behind, Stand Your Ground (see attached images), I have pushed the technical limits of both my glass sculpting and the methods of integrating these parts into the final work. The S12 residency would allow me the opportunity to sharpen my skills in sculpting realistic body parts while creating components for two or three of the Flemish Primitives.

The concept of the Flemish Primitives comes directly from the life stories of a group of people who are diagnosed with psychiatric needs and drug-related problems, who, typically fall outside of the realm of  normative care and society. For the last few years, I have renovated a studio at the Villa Voortman (Gent, Belgium), an alternative meeting place for people falling into the above-mentioned category. Within the Villa, there is a micro society that has developed, one seemingly independent from the world outside. The intent of this work is draw a comparison of this micro-society to the broader world outside its doors, through the merging of these individuals and their stories to the archetypes of the 15th and 16th Century portraiture of the “Flemish Primitives” (see images below).»