A master of “lost wax” casting, Jon Lash developed the “lost wood method” of casting in order to create complex metal compositions.  Initially, the piece is designed in wood.  He then casts each component using either a ceramic shell or sand mold.  These elements are then welded together to simulate the original wood relief.

Lash’s early works were academic in character and figure based.  In the early 1980s, Lash began to explore his fascination with spatial relationships through a series of abstract fabricated, open reliefs, which he later closed in metal box-like frames in order to manipulate composition, space, and balance in the context of two and three dimensions.  The surrounding frame and the smooth linearity of the rods and geometric forms that penetrate, divide, and control the active, open plane allude to the flat surfaces of Constructivist painting as they defy the boundaries of the traditional relief.   

Frame Construction #5, abstract in nature, combines painting with sculpture.  Jon Lash's objects float weightlessly in and out defying gravity.  The artist works with positive and negative space, trying to control it in this piece through the use of a faux-wood open structure.  One can see how Lash plays strongly on volume--using two-dimensional planes to create three-dimensional volumes.  Highly influenced by both the Cubists and Russian Constructivists, he tries to find order in chaos.  Lash draws upon both nature and spirituality, as evidenced through the colors he uses and his choice of composition.  Lash states, "All Art is a kind of religious experience, most often rooted in nature".

Jon Lash received his BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts.  He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and is represented in the collections of the Hewlett Packard Corporation, Cupertino, CA; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; and United Jersey Bank, Princeton, NJ.  Currently, John Lash is the Director of the Digital Atelier at the Johnson Atelier.

Quoted from Parameters: Jon Lash, catalogue to the exhibition, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, March 3-April 28, 1991, np.

Frame Construction #5, 1994
painted aluminum
99" x 66" x 44"
Courtesy of The Sculpture Foundation, Inc.