This week, the Portland Museum of Art kicked off a stunning new exhibition. The show is something of a rarity for the PMA in that it features the work of a living Maine artist. “Bright Common Spikes: The Sculpture of John Bisbee” is a bold, inspired show by one of the most exciting sculptors at work in the state today. It was a true pleasure to interview Bisbee last month for the Maine HOME + DESIGN feature “Something Will Be Revealed” [January/February, 2008].

In the fortress that is Brunswick’s Fort Andross Mill, John Bisbee has spun himself a creative cocoon. The former textile mill provides Bisbee the all room he needs to hammer, pound, heat, weld, and stack his chosen medium: nails. Following Bisbee around the mill, I came upon his massive sculptures at unexpected moments. I found it stacked in the corner of an otherwise deserted room, behind a closed door, around a corner. And with every new discovery, I couldn’t help but think the same thing: “Those are nails?”

As is evident from the photo above, Bisbee’s work bristles with energy. There is a phenomenal tension between the fact that his sculptures are often imbued with such organic qualities…yet are constructed from cold, hard nails.

 It is refreshing, too, to see “high art” created from such a banal object. “Every one has a relationship to the nail,” points out Bisbee. There are rusty old nails scattered amongst the detritus in Bisbee’s multiple workshops—and it reminds you of the power waiting to be released from the commonplace.

It was exciting, to say the least, to have spent so much time talking with an artist who will likely be considered—perhaps 20 years from now, maybe sooner, maybe later—as one of the one most important American sculptors of the beginning of the 21st century.

The PMA deserves a strong round of kudos for hosting this important show—and perhaps a nudge to show the work of more living Maine artists.

“Bright Common Spikes: The Sculpture of John Bisbee”

will run until March 23, 2008.

Joshua Bodwell, Associate Editor.

Photos: The two snapshots of Bisbee's studio are by Joshua Bodwell. The three portraits of Bisbee's work Arc, Spine, and Brocade appear here courtesy of the PMA.