Jordan Eagles

New Discretions is proud to present, Arriving I Go On, a solo exhibition of new works by Jordan Eagles, his first with the gallery.

The work of Jordan Eagles reflects upon the fundamental elements and opposing forces of creation itself, from the incomprehensible magnitude of cosmic events, to the most intimate inner spaces of our physical and spiritual selves. His sculptures, objects and installations speak to the very heart of human experience—our place within all that exists. These themes are manifest in his materials—blood, copper, gauze, and resin.

Chief among them is the life-sustaining vitality of blood, and its role in the cycles of the body, both its vulnerabilities and resilience—from fallibility and brokenness to renewal and healing. Along with Eagles’ use of copper, which is formed by nuclear fusion in the core of stars, these mediums bind biological processes to the celestial. Light is an important component in Eagles’ oeuvre, so intrinsic is it to the mesmerizing incandescent glow, when it is cast through his art.

This exhibition, Arriving I Go On, includes works from the artist’s ORGNseries, which are made by photographing individuals, fully and partially, through life-sized sanguine screens. The images are then transferred onto translucent panels and conserved within multiple layers of blood and resin. The resulting abstract features remain figurative, albeit spectral, so that we can no longer assume that they are human. Their enigmatic presence leads us to consider the possibilities of unknown realms, and concepts of distance, quest, time and place: Thereby gently interrupting the habitual and unthinking acceptance with which we perceive the quotidian world. Elsewhere, the atmospherics of I Offering Night, 2023, are suggestive of an opening in ancient stone; that of cathedral walls or archaeological remains, conjuring thoughts of sacredness and ritual.

Also presented here are several Shards and Hybrids. These geological constructions are assembled from blood, resin and other residue retrieved from the artist’s studio floor, then shattered and fused, reinforcing ideas of regeneration. In FKBLK-BRS, 2022, jutting planes are merged into translucent silicate forms that recall crystallized minerals, as if it has been excavated from deep within a planetary mantle. In the razor-edged works from this series, multi-faced strata glint with infernal intensity, their deep red hues and shadows straddling fragility and strength.

Eagles maintains an equilibrium between dichotomies that form our sense of reality. The volcanism of his compositions invokes immense detonations of crimson ejecta, or glass-like, molten depths; the violence, destruction and reformation of cosmological events in tandem with that of human birth and death; and the science and precision of his methods, combined with an aspect of material discovery. Eagles’ offers us an opportunity to meditate on the mysteries that occupy humankind, and compel us to explore, from the vastness of the universe to the dark and viscous fluid that courses through our veins.

Jordan Eagles (b. 1977) has been exploring the aesthetics and ethics of blood as an artistic medium since the late 1990s. He lives and works in New York City. His works are held in numerous private and public collections including the Addison Gallery of American Art, Everson Museum of Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Princeton University Art Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Art and Wellcome Collection. Exhibitions, installations and public programs include the Getty (Los Angeles, CA), High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), The Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh, PA), Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (Alabama), The High Line (New York, NY) and Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA). Eagles collaborated with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on NYC Blood Sure and—in partnership with GMHC and FCB Health—is a co-founder of Blood Equality. He will have a solo exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum in November 2025.