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15/10/2010

Jen DeNike

Groeflin Maag, Zurich

Claudia Groeflin Galerie is proud to present the US-American artist Jen DeNike’s (*1971, lives and works in New York) first solo exhibition in Switzerland. The artist will be showing two performances, which have recently had their world premiere at MoMA New York, as well as their European debut at the Julia Stoschek Collection in Düsseldorf, and new collages.

Jen DeNike’s oeuvre encompasses a range of media, including photography, video installation, performance and collage. DeNike’s work often takes on the subject of choreography, more specifically choreography within a frame, movements and actions taking place within that frame. Inspired by George Balanchine, who advanced and transformed the scope of the classical ballet tradition according to new body consciousness and expressive experience of the 20th century, DeNike accomplishes the integration of classical ballet into contemporary art in her most recent work. In addition to exploring themes of ritual, myth, and movement in her work, the artist is particularly fascinated by the specific vocabulary of ballet, and has incorporated this vernacular into her dance performances.

In her current solo exhibition at Claudia Groeflin Galerie, DeNike explores a form of spiritual communication called ‘scrying’, which is used to gain insight into certain situations, to foretell the future or discover the past, and to find lost objects or persons. The scryer gains visions for divination through the use of physical mediums such as water, mirrors, crystals or other reflective objects. Jen DeNike uses this rich framework as inspiration for her dance performances. In Another Circle, a video projection of a ballerina in a classical tutu and point shoes turns seemingly endlessly, while at the opening reception a live ballerina mirrors and reacts to the projection - a physical enactment of scrying. The ballerina performs in front of the projection, creating a constant interplay between the real and the projected scenario, to some extent appearing as a duet, and to another extent becoming a moving tableau of her own moving image. Hydromancy, part performance and part sculptural installation, explores water as a medium for scrying. At the opening reception, a nude performer moves ever so slightly in the midst of concentric circles made up of bowls filled with water. The performer peers into and around the round mirror she holds in her hands, conjuring divination through the water surrounding her.

A former student of Stephen Shore, Jen DeNike’s work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Tensta Konsthall, Julia Stoschek Collection, Duve Berlin, The Company, Smith-Stewart, and KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin. DeNike has had group exhibitions at PS1/MoMA, The Brooklyn Museum, Lisa Cooley Gallery, Mary Boone Gallery, the Houston Museum of Contemporary Art and Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the Julia Stoschek Collection

Opening October 16th

Groeflin Maag
Dienerstr. 12 - Zurich
Wed - Fri 2 - 6 pm, Sat 12 - 4 pm and by appointment

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