Pouring Jug is among the most dramatic and instantly iconic works produced by Studio Job. In the making of this work an industrial furnace used for the smelting of iron provides the analogic basis for a highly polished bronze jug out of which pours a cascade of seemingly molten cuboid forms. A process that once revolutionised the steel industry is parodied in high art by an object that, contrary to appearances, serves no obvious utilitarian function. The result, however, is a spectacular work that contrasts epically against the historic backdrop of Sudeley Castle.

“We started to sculpture Pouring Jug back in 2002 and it took us five years to realize the sculpture. To celebrate ‘the act of doing’, we designed a giant archetypical jug pouring a large amount of ‘Rock’. ‘Rock’ can be seen as our ‘invented’ basic structure like clay, paper or paint can be. Rock can appear in many forms … sometimes it grows and sometimes it crumbles. ‘Rock’ is used in many of our sculptures and objects. Mostly it stands for something that we can’t control… Inspired on Vermeers Milk Maid this jug pours this black thick substance instead of virgin white milk.”

– Job Smeets, 2008