The trouble with ‘Jerry’

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Visitors to the Martin Kersels retrospective at the Santa Monica Museum of Art are likely to be perplexed by a step-ladder sculpture that is cryptically named ‘Jerry.’ No explanation for the title can be found in the catalog or anywhere in the exhibition.

To decode the title, we turned to the artist himself. Kersels said the sculpture is named after his best childhood friend, Jerry. They grew up together in Playa del Rey, and later Jerry served as best man at Kersels’ wedding. But their friendship ended abruptly several years ago. ‘I called him one day, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s you’ and hung up,’ said Kersels. ‘And I found out later he didn’t want to associate with the people from the past.’

The sculpture comprises a broken step ladder erected over a mirror. Kersels explained that the ladder represents Jerry’s decision to move away from his past, albeit in a broken and unstable manner. ‘It’s the most specifically personal work in the exhibition,’ the artist said.

Read Times art critic Christopher Knight’s review of the museum show. ‘Jerry’ (2004) is part of the private collection of Helen N. Lewis and Marvin B. Meyer, Beverly Hills.

— David Ng