Success, on a Small Scale

While some monumental artists starve, Jason Barnett carves out a creative niche in the figurine business

A A A Comments By Michael Fallon Wednesday, Feb 23 2000

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Barnett lights up at mention of this artist's name. "We're both from the same town in South Carolina, actually," Barnett says--that being a small river town named Conway in tobacco-growing country. Both artists fled as soon as they could: Hart to New York; Barnett here. Incidentally, though Hart was unknown in the art world, he was hardly poorer for it. He eventually patented a process of making clear acrylic resin casts of his sculptures, and he sold more than $100 million worth of icily realistic, two-foot sculptures in gift galleries around the world.

"Traditional classical training is not respected in art schools now," Barnett says. "That's a great shame. The great abstract artists all had classical training. Now we have a generation of artists taught abstract styles with no classical basis. Hart was a truly classically trained artist. And yet, some of his forms in clothes and drapery were amazing abstract forms. Modern art is all galvanized shapes stuck out in the woods." Barnett shakes his head. "It's a shame."

Daniel Corrigan

Smaller than Stuart Little: Sculptor Jason Barnett alongside a creation

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I mention that being the kind of artist he is, Barnett probably won't be gracing the halls of the Walker Art Center, or any similar gallery, anytime soon. Nor is he likely to celebrate a fat stipend from any of the granting institutions around town. This doesn't seem to faze Barnett. He has ambitions of his own. He can see himself establishing his own studio someday at a site away from his home and perhaps hiring a few workers that he might teach to ply this art form. Barnett sees himself competing on a larger scale in creating giftware items for more companies. Then, at last, he imagines himself doing more work for himself, and perhaps competing for public commissions--taking his skills and talents beyond the three-inch realm.

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