Jason Guffey - Sculpter
Hey, yo! I’m Jason Guffey (“Guffey”).
During a sick day home from school when I was 12, I watched a PBS arts and crafts show called “The Art Chest with Mr Mihuta”. He was making very simple stick figures with two pipe cleaners. I was fascinated by the possibilities in creating my own toys so my mom bought me a pack of pipe cleaners, and it just clicked. I’ve been bending and shaping pipe cleaners into sculptures and creations ever since. Everyone plays with pipe cleaners when they are young, I just never stopped.
By sculpting iconic figures from video games and comic culture in dynamic poses, I bring an unusual approach to something familiar and take them out of the 2D world into an impressive 3D experience. I often sculpt in coffee shops and bars and people are mesmerized by the process. At first impression people often don’t even realize the media used to create my sculptures and are amazed to find out that a humble pipe cleaner can be shaped into anything I want. I can’t draw in 2D to save my life, but sculpting out of pipe cleaners just comes naturally to me. If I can see it in my head, I can build it.
These days, I’m focusing on building Guffey Art with my original FuzzyFolk creations, unique sculptures and installations inspired by graffiti, house music, abstracted plants, street iconography and comics — all built out of pipe cleaners. I want to give people an experience that makes them reconsider the possibilities of material, structure and assumptions about the nature of being.