Brian Jungen
dal 7/3/2006 al 14/4/2006
Segnalato da
7/3/2006
Brian Jungen
Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York
The outer skin of used baseballs transformed into human-like skulls
Casey Kaplan is proud to present the first solo gallery exhibition of Brian
Jungen in New York. The Vancouver based artist utilizes mass produced
consumer goods and common materials in innovative and critical
transformations that speak to a range of cultural, social and economic
issues. Born in Fort St. John, British Columbia to a Swiss father and an
Aboriginal mother from the Dane-zee tribe, Jungen is well known for projects
such as the Prototype for New Understanding series (1998-2005), where
disassembled Nike Air Jordan sneakers were reconfigured into twenty-three
different simulations of Northwest Coast Aboriginal masks; and Shapeshifter
(2000), one from a series of three large-scale whale skeletons constructed
from white plastic lawn chairs. In new sculpture and installation work, the
artist continues to evoke specific cultural traditions while exposing
complex relationships with contemporary global commerce.
For this exhibition, Jungen transforms the outer skin of used baseballs and
softballs into human-like skulls. Resting atop each skull sits a Cleveland
Indians ball cap complete with the team's red-skinned, buck-toothed,
feather-sporting mascot, Chief Wahoo. With the appropriation of this
controversial caricature, Jungen is speaking to the ongoing debate of the
use/abuse of Native American imagery by professional sports teams. The
artist utilizes the scuffed white surface of sports balls to craft a unique
'artefact.' By doing such, he complicates the 'identity' of a consumer
product, acknowledges its relationship to late capitalist production
methods, and responds to a corporate brand that uses "Indian" sports team
tokens in a manner that best suits their purposes.
In his current exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Jungen pushes the
concept of employing animal 'skin' in a 20-foot teepee made from skinned
black-leather sofas. Jungen approaches furniture, a leather upholstered
commodity, as if it were an animal sought after for survival. Using its
leather as hide for shelter and clothing the artist creates a tribute to the
fundamental traditions of nomadic hunter/gather societies.
This exhibition will include additional new work, currently in production
for its site-specific presentation at the gallery.
Jungen graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design in 1992. In
2002, he was awarded the inaugural Sobey Art Award. Solo exhibitions
include, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Fransisco, CA;
Triple Candie, New York; Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver; and the 2003
Vienna Secession, Austria. The first comprehensive survey of work by Brian
Jungen is currently at the Vancouver Art Gallery after its debut at the New
Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. The exhibition, organized by the
Vancouver Art Gallery, will travel to Muse'e d-arte Contemporain de Montre'al,
Quebec. The artist's upcoming exhibition in the Level 2 gallery at Tate
Modern, UK opens in May 2006.
Image: Brian Jungen, Prototype for New Understanding #8, 1999. Nike athletic footwear Collection of Colin Griffiths, Vancouver
CASEY KAPLAN IS PLEASED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ARMORY SHOW, NY, MARCH 9 13,
2006, PIER 92 BOOTH 307
NEXT GALLERY EXHIBITION: JASON DODGE, APRIL 21 MAY 20, 200
Opening: Wednesday, March 8th, 6-8 pm
Casey Kaplan
525 West 21st Street New York, NY 10011
Gallery hours: Tuesday Saturday 10-6 p