Brian Jungen June 24 – July 29 Opening Friday, June 24
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Brian Jungen June 24 – July 29 Opening Friday, June 24 Casey Kaplan is pleased to present an exhibition of new sculptures by renowned artist, Brian Jungen. In 1998, while living in Vancouver the artist conceived his first sculptural works, “Prototype for New Understanding” (1998-2005). Converting Nike Air Jordan trainers into anthropological masks, using the traditional colors of black, white, red, integrated with human hair, Jungen made poignant references to contemporary assimilations and the commercial devaluing of revered customs and symbols. The process was an intimate one, as the shoes were laboriously altered by Jungen’s hand. Ultimately they were presented in a museum-like display as precious artifacts, with glass vitrines and supporting armatures. The Nike Air Jordan was a sought-after, pop-cultural symbol among Jungen’s adolescent peers in the Doig River band of the Dane-zaa First Nation and established Jungen’s interest in the reciprocal link between objects and people. In Jungen’s fourth exhibition at Casey Kaplan, he revisits this medium so instrumental to the beginnings of his practice. Jungen’s new sculptural objects, wall reliefs, and hanging curtain are made of cut, spliced and reformatted Air Jordan trainers transformed into abstracted compositions that generate broader interpretations. Since his last show in the gallery in 2011, Jungen has relocated his home and studio to a more remote location outside of Van- couver. While his earlier work laid the groundwork for a commentary on indigenous stereotypes and notions of dual heritage, his more recent and continued experiences with his native culture prompted a palpable structural and material transformation in his practice. With his more frequent returns to Northern B.C. in recent years, Jungen learned the traditional techniques of his First Nations people, including animal hide crafts and drum making. He also resumed skills cultivated while growing up on his family’s farm among the Doig River community, such as hunting and horseback riding. (As an avid horseman, some of the mask-like works presented in this exhibition were tailored specifically for one of his horses.) Untying himself from a refined treat- ment of resources, while maintaining his own presence with hand-sewing and carving, the works presented are liberated in an honest portrayal of material metamorphosis which is in direct engagement with the artist’s lifestyle. Residing now on his ranch, his process includes the use of varying shop tools such as industrial sewing machines (originally used for horse saddles) and bandsaws (operated daily on the ranch). Jungen uses only preexisting hardware in an attempt to minimize the visibility of extra- neous materials and display devices. Incorporating all of the components of the shoes in an increasingly autonomous approach to modernist composition, the consumable, wearable objects have self-generated as sculpture. The components of the shoes independently support and embrace the renewed structures. Viewed in the round, the freestand- ing sculptures offer insight into Jungen’s technique of cutting through stacked and compressed rubber soles, for each layer of synthetic fabric, leather and rubber is exposed. To access the exhibition one must enter through a veil of fluorescent shoelaces, seamed onto insoles suspended from the ceiling. Conscious of using the whole shoe, the curtain walks us through time by incorporating remnants of soles left over from the first “Prototype for New Understanding” series. In wall reliefs, the artist taps into an anthropomorphic realm between the alien and familiar with unraveled and tufted shoelaces, indicative of the use of hu- man hair in previous work. In many respects, the resulting formation simulates the futuristic design of the Air Jordan as it exists in today’s market. In the past, and specifically for those hailing from Jungen’s hometown, the limited editions of the Nike Air Jordans were practi- cally unattainable. With Nike’s new mass-market approach and broadened international scope in recent years, not to mention the increased accessibility of the Internet, the trainers have become a ubiquitous commodity. Iconic still, their cultural and luxury implications have changed over time. Jungen has altered his treatment and handling of the material to reflect this new under- standing and as the result, his newest sculptures can no longer be labeled as prototypes. Brian Jungen (b. 1970, Fort St. John, B.C.) lives and works in North Okanagan, B.C. The artist has presented solo exhibitions at venues such as Hannover Kunstverein (2013); Bonner Kunstverein (2013); Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2011); Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2011); The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC (2009); Museum Villa Stuck, Münich (2008); Witte de With, Rot- terdam (2007); Tate Modern, London (2006); Vancouver Art Gallery (2006); Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal (2006); New Museum, New York (2005); and CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2004). With recent group exhibitions at venues such as the Rennie Collection, Vancouver (2016) and Vancouver Art Gallery (2016), the artist is scheduled to present a solo exhibition at the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque in 2018. Jungen is included in the permanent collections of the AGO, Toronto; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Seattle Museum of Art; The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.; Tate Modern, London; and Vancouver Art Gallery, B.C. Three can’t-miss contemporary art shows in Vancouver MARSHA LEDERMAN VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail Friday, Jan. 22, 2016 Brian Jungen at Catriona Jeffries Gallery It’s been more than 10 years since Jungen ended the series that made him a darling of the art world and beyond. Prototypes for New Understanding (1998- 2005) saw the B.C. artist disassemble Nike Air Jordan running shoes and re- configure them to resemble Northwest Coast aboriginal masks. Red, white and B.C. artist Brian Jungen has five new Air Jordan sculptures at Catriona black, the sneakers were even the right colours for Jungen’s smart, whimsical Jeffries Gallery. investigation of identity and appropriation, influenced by his own First Nations heritage. The series was always meant to end at 23 – Michael Jordan’s number – although Jungen did produce two additional masks: one for philanthropist Michael Audain and the other for Jordan himself, at the athlete’s request. “I couldn’t say no, right?” Jungen says. Now, in a major development, Jungen is returning to the source material and making new work with it. Five of his new Air Jordan sculptures are installed at Catriona Jeffries Gallery for an exhibition that opened Thursday. (A sixth – actually the first work in the new series – is installed at the Rennie show; an all-black mask-like sculpture reminiscent of the KKK or Abu Ghraib that serves as a sort of marker separating Prototypes and the new works.) The new sculptures are entirely different – more open and abstracted. Gone are direct references to the First Nations masks – although suggestions can still be found. Unlike the first series, these new sculptures include laces and soles. In one piece, 13 are stitched together, creating the illusion from certain angles of one giant sole. The new works have been influenced by Jungen’s new circumstances. He has left Vancouver and bought a ranch outside Ver- non, B.C., where he has a large studio and powerful machinery – a saddle sewing machine, a band saw – allowing him to work with the shoes in a new way, using the same kind of tools that were used to manufacture them. Brian Jungen is at Catriona Jeffries Gallery until Feb. 27 (catrionajeffries.com). Winter 2015/2016: Collected Works at the Rennie Collection Since Vancouver real estate marketer Rennie opened his own gallery in 2009 to show works from his astonishing contemporary- art collection, most of the exhibitions have featured a single artist. The show opening this weekend breaks new ground – the museum’s first survey and the first Rennie himself has curated. Nearly 60 works by more than 40 artists offer commentary on these chaotic times – racism, gun violence, wealth inequality. The exhibition also invokes a feeling of chaos as you move through, greeted first by John Baldessari’s large-scale installation Camel (Albino) Contemplating Needle (Large). The 2013 work references a biblical passage about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven – conjuring one-per-centers (and a chuckle, when you consider Rennie’s own wealth). Upstairs, the enormous Animal Farm ’92 (after George Orwell) by Tim Rollins and K.O.S. features pages of George Orwell’s classic marked up with drawings of animals affixed with heads of political leaders of the day – Brian Mulroney fronts a dog (with devilish ears); Nelson Mandela a raven. Installed nearby is Brian Jungen’s Nike Air Jordan raven mask and Ai Weiwei’s Coloured Vases – seven Han Dynasty vases dipped in industrial paint, offering a commentary on China’s complexities. Hank Willis Thomas’s 2004 work Priceless, which Rennie hung in his office after the fallout from the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., feels painfully contemporary: “3-piece suit: $250. New socks $2. 9mm Pistol: $80 … Picking the perfect casket for your son: priceless.” Thomas J. Price’s 34-inch bronze is a black man with a cellphone in one hand while the contents of his other hand are a mystery inside his hoodie pocket. Rennie bought the work last month for this show. Other grim works include Sophie Calle’s photographic gravestones – Mother, Father, No. 37 and Baby – installed on the floor rather than the wall – and General Idea’s Black AIDS (prototype).