"…Unlike his scathingly satirical predecessors Hogarth and Daumier, Jack Dowd has a big heart, and it is that quality of his work – a compassion for the underdog coupled with a certain faith in the underdog’s essential humanity, no matter how mean the circumstances – that fully informs a very recent work entitled Earth Angel. It’s a sculpture that captures the crying material need of a roseate-lit street performer strumming his guitar. Behind him is the outline of two neon wings, and over him the halo of a contemporary saint. Before him, as he plays, is a guitar case opened up for contributions to the cause. What that cause is would seem to be, at the very least, survival, and even better, survival on the proceeds from a person’s art. Earth Angel’s hopes for the latter are touching and sad and blissfully heroic. Here the human condition is "illuminated" – and made that much more bearable – by the down-to-earth passion of one of Dowd’s most sagely celestial folk.

Gerrit Henry

Contributing Editor, "ArtNews"

Author/ Teacher

"Jack Dowd is a connoisseur of American types, the boisterous, eccentric, innocently hilarious individuals who rarely become the subjects of art. Dowd celebrates America’s idiosyncratic extended family in his ongoing series of full-sized sculpted figures, enhanced with actual objects. These folks are regarded by the artist with affectionate humor and satiric wit, balanced by a feeling for the pathos of everyday life.

What might pass unnoticed in Dowd’s focus upon the lovably wacky is that through his art he allows us to clearly see people who are considered outsiders to the official American mainstream. In Dowd’s vision, they are treated with pointed humor and a measure of respect as a vital part of what it means to be an American today."

John Mendelsohn

Art Essayist/ Teacher