Jordan Griska grew up in Narberth in a household with a mom and dad who are physicians, and in fact Jordan was pre-med in college for a while until he changed his mind, switched to art, and transferred to Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Griska makes sculptures and installations from found parts and re-used materials. He has accordian-pleated a real gasoline pump (he bought it online) transforming it into a small, R2D2-like version of a functioning pump. Now, he is working on a big commission for a large temporary sculptural for Lenfest Plaza, the new public space at Broad and Cherry Sts. “Grumman Greenhouse” features a Grumman Cold War-era defense plane (he also bought that on eBay). The artist is altering into a sculpture-cum-greenhouse. It will be placed in the space nose-down and wings-up as if it landed accidentally and tragically. We spoke with Griska at the Philadelphia Traction Company, a huge shared studio space that used to be a trolley barn many years ago. Grumman Greenhouse is scheduled to arrive in Lenfest Plaza Sept. 15 and will be inaugurated Oct. 1, along with the Claes Oldenburg Paintbrush.
This episode is edited by Peter Crimmins. The music is by Eric Biondo. Thanks to the Knight Foundation for helping us get the ball rolling on this project. Thanks to J-Lab‘s Enterprise Reporting Fund and William Penn Foundation for additional support and to our partner WHYY NewsWorks for their ongoing support. You can listen to Artblog Radio on Apple and Spotify.
