A social message manifests in the form of quirky plastic people, and one rubber dog. These animated characters are the works of Jerry Ross Barrish, an assemblage sculptor and filmmaker who has lived in Pacifica since the
1980’s. Barrish’s latest exhibition, “Cast & Crew,” will be in the Skyline Art Gallery until Oct. 26. The sculptures displayed are featured in the three short films that are played at the exhibit. The films are modestly brilliant and unusual, furnished with cheeky characters and witty social and political innuendo.

Barrish had originally gone to The San Francisco Art Institute to study “traditional sculpture”; but on the first day of class he changed his major to film making. When he graduated, he made three feature films and traveled the world going to film festivals.

After his travels, he came back to Pacifica and in 1989 he made his last feature film. That was when he noticed something on the beach.

“I started picking up this plastic on the beach and this material started to speak to me, I started to see images in the material,” Barrish revealed. “It’s not garbage. To me, it is as good as steel or bronze. It’s just art material to me.”

The sculptures shown at the exhibit were created from pieces of recycled plastic and debris that Barrish had accumulated over the past couple of decades. The characters resemble something out of 1920’s Berlin. A handful of them are even modeled after Marlene Dietriche, the famous 1920’s German actress. Barrish gives all his sculptures a tale, although none of them were created with a particular story.

That is the magic of art. It generates a continually changing experience. Beneath the blurred lines on the page, there always lies a tale.

“All my work has a story; either my story or your story.”