Sean “Jinx” Pace is one of the best known personalities in Asheville’s arts scene. He’s been working for almost a decade in the strong local tradition of found objects sculpture, making use of the scrap metal and remnants of industry that abound along the banks of the French Broad River. He takes these cast-off materials and re-purposes them into playful, humorous, often challenging artifacts that redeem the exhaust of our modern civilization. Jinx is best know for his post-industrial machines the Boxer and the Chicken Shooter which he produced around the time of his graduation from the UNCA visual arts program. These iconic pieces established his reputation in the art world, and ever since producing them he has continued to contribute a strong voice to the cultural conversation in Asheville.
Jinx’s story sheds light on some salient history in the River Arts District. He began to work in the District at the very beginning of the cultural Renaissance that led to the area’s current status as a thriving community and tourist destination. At the time that Jinx moved into the R.A.D. it was still a largely-abandoned industrial block, and he was living out of a bus hidden in a junk yard and “borrowing” electricity at night from a neighboring building. He made a heavy investment of sweat-equity into the area and into the Phil Mechanic building in particular, and he contributed a great deal to the collective effort that led to the District’s present success.
Now that the River Arts District is experiencing some growth there is the inevitable creep of gentrification and rising rents. While it’s nice that the area has cleaned up from ten years ago and that more people are drawn to it, artists like Jinx and his friend Shawn Oldham have increasingly found it difficult to rent sufficient studio space at a rate that will allow them to make a living. So, the two Seans, (Oldham and Pace) have recently moved away from the River Arts district and found a warehouse space several miles distant that they can rent for much cheaper. The space has acquired the affectionate name “the Franger” (somewhere between “factory” and “hanger”), and it’s become a gathering place for creatives, fabricators, painters, mechanics, and just about anyone who needs an open forum in which to experiment and “make stuff.” The Franger has allowed the Sean’s to pursue larger scale, ambitious projects and not break the bank.
I spent a fair amount of time hanging out with Jinx and visiting the Franger while producing this video. It’s a pleasure to work with an artist who is so articulate and cogent in expressing his point of view. Jinx has strong opinions on everything from his own message to the Occupy movement to television to the Asheville city council. And he’s not afraid to share them. It’s rare in this day and age to encounter a person who is so plain-spoken and unapologetic, yet ready to listen and engage in a good dialogue. During my time filming Jinx and following the work that was happening at the Franger, I was often required to adapt to last minute schedule changes, sudden halts in work, unplanned all-nighters and other such speed bumps in production. Yet I always knew that if I hung around the space long enough I was sure to see something inspiring, and hopefully catch it on film.
Jinx’s strongest attribute as an artist may be his robust self-confidence. When he gets an idea for a project no matter how grandly ambitious, he is sure that he can find a way to accomplish it (ie. planning the purchase of a retired military vessel to tour the world in and make art). Of course, such an outlook exposes one to the risk of disappointment and failure, but often enough Jinx defies his limitations and is able to realize his vision (or something close to it). On those occasions that he comes up short, he greats frustration with the good humor and the wry smile that are his trademarks. These things have made him an establishment in his own right in the River Arts District.
Watch Jinx’s profile here, and if you’d like to learn more visit here: http://www.seanpace.com/. If you want to see the Redneck Chandelier (final piece of art featured in the video) in person, go to the Mellow Mushroom in Bristol, TN. Happy viewing!
