Jeff Sheridan (born 1948) is an American magician who started his career by specializing in street magic. Sheridan began working in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

around 1967. He studied briefly at the School of the Visual Arts in NYC in the late 1960s. He authored the 1977 book, ''Street Magic, An Illustrated History of Wandering Magicians and Their Conjuring Arts''. The book was coauthored by Edward Claflin. Sheridan is best known for his

card manipulation Card manipulation, commonly known as card magic, is the branch of magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especially in close-up, ...

s, and for his silent avant-garde style of performance which he self-created in NY's Central Park. He is a pioneer at making a living at magic purely by working the street, and was well known as the

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

magician performing at the Walter Scott statue in NYC in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. In 1970 Sheridan co-founded the Theatre of the Surreal, a performance troupe that utilized magical technique to create living surreal vignettes. The troupe, that included Fonje deVre and Donald Waskover (co-founder), performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, early SoHo galleries and other venues in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He is also a magic inventor, creating for the major U.S. toy company Milton Bradley's Magic Works line of magic, as well for the Tenyo company of Japan. Sheridan is well known in the magic community, now lectures on the circuit as well selling his DVDs. He was a teacher of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

magician Jeff McBride and David Kotkin who used the ideas and tricks taught by Sheridan to later become known as

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

. Jeff Sheridan also authored in 1982 'Nothings Impossible, Stunts to Entertain and Amaze' published by Lothrop Lee and Shepard. The book was illustrated with photographs by NY based performing arts photographer Jim Moore. Since the 1990s, he has lived mostly in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Germany, performing frequently at ''Tigerpalast'', a variety theater. In recent years, he has increasingly devoted his energies to combining magic and surrealist art, incorporating his own artwork into his performances as a magician. In 2007 and 2008, there have been exhibitions of his artwork in NYC and Frankfurt. His one man show in Germany was a collection of his surrealist objects that were tied thematically to his magic work. His sculptures were shown at the NY gallery Francis Nauman Fine Arts in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheridan, Jeff American magicians American street performers 1948 births Living people