IN THE STUDIO
with Jim Toia
Jim Toia makes his home
in the hills of northwestern New Jersey, and travels
widely in an effort to expand
his exposure to natural phenomena across the globe. He
is represented by the Kim
Foster Gallery in NYC and
by smART in Monaco.
Ed Kerns is the Eugene
H. Clapp Professor of Art
and Humanities in the Art
Department at Lafayette
College where he teaches
painting and courses in neuroscience, art, and the nature
of consciousness.
Artist Jim Toia
By Ed Kerns
Guest Contributor
EK: You spend considerable time immersed in the
natural environment observing nature’s interrelated
occurrences of decay, dispersion, ingestion, and growth
as well as the interactions and formations of structure
produced by these processes.
How did your work take this direction?
JT: The direct answer is that immersing myself
in the direct observation of nature eliminates
time for me. It is when I feel most alive, most
present.
The longer answer is that all of our successful
human endeavors mimic nature’s processes, so
I take my cues from the natural world. As much
as we try to trump nature’s progress through
scientific and chemical invention, most of our
attempts are ultimately undermined... antibiotics & superbugs, monocultures & disease/pollution, global warming...so many examples.
I’m a big admirer of Buckminster Fuller, surprise surprise. Now more than ever we should
18
consider his concept of “Spaceship Earth.” His
observations borrowed from nature to develop
the geodesic dome, and led to the discovery of
Buckyballs. His detailed consideration of natural structures as THE model contains lessons
that should not be lost on us.
EK: Yes, and he said that nature is trying very
hard to make us succeed, but that we are not the only
experiment. His legacy has been furthered by the noted
biologist, Jane Benyus. She says that by modeling our
technologies and systems after the natural world, we
can improve our quality of life and preserve the environment.
There is a view that art has stopped being about
nature and now is devoted to culture. Your work seems
to bridge that divide by being a model of “natureculture,” where processes examined offer patterns of
structure and even imbued ethical behavior. Would
you agree with this description?
SciArt in America June 2014