Again the Meat Man and the Bait Fish
1993

Oak, pine, holly           113 x 39 x 72 in             287 x 99.1 x 182.9 cm          Collection of the artist

"His work comes from mainstream Modernism. He was pushing it. Look at Calder’s Circus and Picasso’s drawings from the 1930s. He must have thought of Matisse when making prints and Noguchi’s standing wooden figures when making sculpture. Throw in some Surrealist spookiness and there you are. He will tell you differently. He’ll talk about Mexico as a big influence, especially the murals. Except for the ambition I don’t see it. I read his work in terms of Synthetic Cubism and Surrealism. Picasso takes a bicycle seat and handlebars and creates a bull. James puts together a couple of sticks and makes a flying man. The process it the same; the palette different."

 -Hiram Butler, gallerist, colleague and friend of James Surls, from interview with Terrie Sultan, 2004.