Screaming Jimmy, the first time we met in that field I knew you were the one.
Artist
Clint Neufeld
(Canadian, born 1975)
Date2016
Mediumceramic, glaze, metal
DimensionsOverall: 213.4 × 182.9 × 182.9 cm (84 × 72 × 72 in.)
Engine: 121.9 × 182.9 × 86.4 cm (48 × 72 × 34 in.)
Engine: 121.9 × 182.9 × 86.4 cm (48 × 72 × 34 in.)
Credit LineCollection of Remai Modern. Gift of Yann Martel and Alice Kuipers 2016.
Object number2016.6.a-b
Classificationssculpture
Collections
On View
On viewClint Neufeld’s largest ceramic work to date, Screaming Jimmy, was cast from a 1978, eight-cylinder, two-stroke, turbo-charged, super-charged, Detroit diesel engine that has become an icon of a bygone era. Neufeld was drawn to the aesthetic qualities of this engine, as well as the history of the Detroit Diesel, which garnered the pejorative yet affectionate nickname, “Screaming Jimmy”, due to the noise it made. The “Screaming Jimmy” required high rpm’s to achieve its maximum horsepower and torque, a condition that resulted from the fact that it was a two-stroke engine, which was rare in the word of diesel engines.
Neufeld makes a mould from the actual object, then carefully creates a fragile clay replica. By transforming engines from steel to ceramic and detailing them with decals and coloured glazes more suited to formal dinnerware, Clint Neufeld initiates a fundamental shift of meaning. This sculpture is the technical culmination of his distinctive work in ceramics, glazed in pastry-shop pastel colours.
Neufeld makes a mould from the actual object, then carefully creates a fragile clay replica. By transforming engines from steel to ceramic and detailing them with decals and coloured glazes more suited to formal dinnerware, Clint Neufeld initiates a fundamental shift of meaning. This sculpture is the technical culmination of his distinctive work in ceramics, glazed in pastry-shop pastel colours.
