Jessica Ann Peavy Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
My work investigates the language, gestures, sounds, and iconography that define historical and contemporary black female performance. Folk tales/tall tales, Blaxploitations films, popular music, sexually stylized advertising found in music videos and publications such as King, Smooth, and Maxim; and reality television all inform the narrative arc of my photographic and video works.
I am a storyteller presenting subjects who reveal their secrets, desires, trials, confrontations with others as well as the conflicts within themselves when they think they have privacy or a trusted viewer. I am interested in capturing the blurred lines between fact and fiction and how it affects performance and spectatorship. People often communicate through fantasies, thus opening the door for manipulation, misinterpretation, and misinformation. Accounts of actual events are often exaggerated and self aggrandizing. My subjects offer intense recollections that often neglect to describe absolute truths. While we are busy lying to others, we are often lying to ourselves.
I employ layered imagery, static frames, multiple frames/screens/projections, dialogues, and audio tracks at once.I document myself and the intricate lives of other women using monologues, repeated phrases, and gestures to deliver satirical, yet highly personal performances to convey feelings of frustration, beauty, confidence, and defeat.
My work investigates the language, gestures, sounds, and iconography that define historical and contemporary black female performance. Folk tales/tall tales, Blaxploitations films, popular music, sexually stylized advertising found in music videos and publications such as King, Smooth, and Maxim; and reality television all inform the narrative arc of my photographic and video works.
I am a storyteller presenting subjects who reveal their secrets, desires, trials, confrontations with others as well as the conflicts within themselves when they think they have privacy or a trusted viewer. I am interested in capturing the blurred lines between fact and fiction and how it affects performance and spectatorship. People often communicate through fantasies, thus opening the door for manipulation, misinterpretation, and misinformation. Accounts of actual events are often exaggerated and self aggrandizing. My subjects offer intense recollections that often neglect to describe absolute truths. While we are busy lying to others, we are often lying to ourselves.
I employ layered imagery, static frames, multiple frames/screens/projections, dialogues, and audio tracks at once.I document myself and the intricate lives of other women using monologues, repeated phrases, and gestures to deliver satirical, yet highly personal performances to convey feelings of frustration, beauty, confidence, and defeat.
CV
EDUCATION
2006 MFA, School of Visual Arts, Photography, Video, and Related Media
2004 BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Film and Television
AWARDS, RESIDENCIES AND GRANTS
2009 New York State Council of the Arts individual artist film and new media grant
Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant
2008 Harvestworks Artist-In-Residence program
2007 Smack Mellon Artist-In-Residence and fellowship
Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art Grant
2005 Aaron Siskind Grant
2004 Warner Bros. Pictures Film Production Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010
“She Knows Something You Don’t Know” video and performance. Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
2008
“Rituals of Consumption:Leviticus rowed the boat ashore” Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“YEAH I SAID IT…but don’t you tell nobody”, Brooklyn Arts Council, NY
GROUP EXIBITIONS
2009
“Young Curators, New Ideas II”, PPOW gallery, New York, NY
“Undercover”, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
“The Brand New Heavies”, Collette Blanchard Gallery, New York, NY
“Harvestworks AIR exhibition” New York, NY
2008
“Exploding Language” Obsidian Arts, Minneapolis, MN
“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970, Contemporary
Art Museum Houston, TX.
2007
“Red Carpet Treatment”, Rush Arts, Miami, FL
Drift Art Project, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970, Spelman
College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
“Deviant Behavior” Artformz Alternative, Miami, FL
Brooklyn Arts Council Film/Video Festival, Brooklyn, NY
“Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses” Brooklyn Arts Council & Brooklyn Museum, NY
“United Black Girls” Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2006
“Neubees” The Rider Project, Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
“Pay to Play” Black Floor Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“The Early Work,” SVA MFA thesis exhibition, New York, NY
2005
International Black Media Festival, London
Scholastic Outreach Programs, New York
“Look at Me: The Invisible Icon” Grace Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2004
Cinewomen NY, Donnell Media Center, New York, NY
African American Women in Cinema Film Festival, NY
Cinema Urbano Screen, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
2003
CUNY Graduate Center, Center of Communication, New York, NY
Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
PERFORMANCES
2007
“Get Your Fatback” Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, NYC. Funded by Franklin Furnace
2010
“She Knows Something You Don’t Know” Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
“Two lies and a Truth” Art in Odd Places Festival, New York
LECTURES AND ARTIST TALKS
2009
“The Brand New Heavies” Collette Blanchard Gallery artist talk
“Listen In: Jessica Ann Peavy” Harvestworks, NY, artist talk/presentation
2008
Brooklyn Arts Council Film Festival, New Media Installation artists talk
2007
Rush Arts Gallery, United Black Girls exhibition artist talk
“Race, Representation and Moving Image” Spelman College artist talk
“Conversations Across Cultures” Community Arts Conference, Columbia University, lecture & artist talk
2005
Scholastic Inc. Community Outreach, lecture
2003
“Women Call the Shots” CUNY Graduate Center artist talk
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009
T.J. Carlin, “The Brand New Heavies” Time Out New York/ Issue 699: Feb 19-25, 2009
Charlie Finch, “Having A Rave Up!”Artnet Magazine, January 29th 2009
2008
Katie Geha “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” fluentcollab.org
Sophie Rosenblum, “ Ladies First: Cinema Remixed & Reloaded at the CAMH” Glasstire.com
Andrea Branwell Brownlee, PhD & Valerie Cassel Oliver, Cinema Remixed and Reloaded Exhibition Catalogue
2007
Lisa Kurzner,”Black Women Remixed” The Atlanta Journal –Constitution, Arts and Books section K4. Oct 14th 2007
Rebecca Cochran,“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women and the Moving Image Since 1970” Art Forum Online Critics Picks.
Felicia Feaster, “Women Making Movies” Creativeloafing.com
EDUCATION
2006 MFA, School of Visual Arts, Photography, Video, and Related Media
2004 BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, Film and Television
AWARDS, RESIDENCIES AND GRANTS
2009 New York State Council of the Arts individual artist film and new media grant
Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant
2008 Harvestworks Artist-In-Residence program
2007 Smack Mellon Artist-In-Residence and fellowship
Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art Grant
2005 Aaron Siskind Grant
2004 Warner Bros. Pictures Film Production Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010
“She Knows Something You Don’t Know” video and performance. Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
2008
“Rituals of Consumption:Leviticus rowed the boat ashore” Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“YEAH I SAID IT…but don’t you tell nobody”, Brooklyn Arts Council, NY
GROUP EXIBITIONS
2009
“Young Curators, New Ideas II”, PPOW gallery, New York, NY
“Undercover”, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
“The Brand New Heavies”, Collette Blanchard Gallery, New York, NY
“Harvestworks AIR exhibition” New York, NY
2008
“Exploding Language” Obsidian Arts, Minneapolis, MN
“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970, Contemporary
Art Museum Houston, TX.
2007
“Red Carpet Treatment”, Rush Arts, Miami, FL
Drift Art Project, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970, Spelman
College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
“Deviant Behavior” Artformz Alternative, Miami, FL
Brooklyn Arts Council Film/Video Festival, Brooklyn, NY
“Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses” Brooklyn Arts Council & Brooklyn Museum, NY
“United Black Girls” Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2006
“Neubees” The Rider Project, Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY
“Pay to Play” Black Floor Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
“The Early Work,” SVA MFA thesis exhibition, New York, NY
2005
International Black Media Festival, London
Scholastic Outreach Programs, New York
“Look at Me: The Invisible Icon” Grace Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2004
Cinewomen NY, Donnell Media Center, New York, NY
African American Women in Cinema Film Festival, NY
Cinema Urbano Screen, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
2003
CUNY Graduate Center, Center of Communication, New York, NY
Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
PERFORMANCES
2007
“Get Your Fatback” Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem, NYC. Funded by Franklin Furnace
2010
“She Knows Something You Don’t Know” Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
“Two lies and a Truth” Art in Odd Places Festival, New York
LECTURES AND ARTIST TALKS
2009
“The Brand New Heavies” Collette Blanchard Gallery artist talk
“Listen In: Jessica Ann Peavy” Harvestworks, NY, artist talk/presentation
2008
Brooklyn Arts Council Film Festival, New Media Installation artists talk
2007
Rush Arts Gallery, United Black Girls exhibition artist talk
“Race, Representation and Moving Image” Spelman College artist talk
“Conversations Across Cultures” Community Arts Conference, Columbia University, lecture & artist talk
2005
Scholastic Inc. Community Outreach, lecture
2003
“Women Call the Shots” CUNY Graduate Center artist talk
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2009
T.J. Carlin, “The Brand New Heavies” Time Out New York/ Issue 699: Feb 19-25, 2009
Charlie Finch, “Having A Rave Up!”Artnet Magazine, January 29th 2009
2008
Katie Geha “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” fluentcollab.org
Sophie Rosenblum, “ Ladies First: Cinema Remixed & Reloaded at the CAMH” Glasstire.com
Andrea Branwell Brownlee, PhD & Valerie Cassel Oliver, Cinema Remixed and Reloaded Exhibition Catalogue
2007
Lisa Kurzner,”Black Women Remixed” The Atlanta Journal –Constitution, Arts and Books section K4. Oct 14th 2007
Rebecca Cochran,“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women and the Moving Image Since 1970” Art Forum Online Critics Picks.
Felicia Feaster, “Women Making Movies” Creativeloafing.com
video still from “Eat the Fruit”2010
*see dvd
video still from “Eat the Fruit”2010
*see dvd
video still from “Jive Turkey”2009
*see dvd
“Her Intuition Says No” 2010
From the Rituals of Consumption Series Project “She knows Something you don’t know”
c-print
20x30”
“She Knows You Know She Knows” 2010rom the Rituals of Consumption Series Project “She knows Something you don’t know”
c-print
13x100”
“She Sees You” 2008From Rituals of Consumption:Leviticus rowed the boat ashore
digital c-print
17x24”
“Rituals of Consumption: Leviticus rowed the boat ashore” 2008Installation view
3-channel video installation. Used MAX/MSP software to create the motion in each channel as seen in the DVD submission
*see dvd
“Shady, a dramatic love story”2007
digital c-print
20 x 30”
Video still from “Note to Self: There’s a hot sauce stain on my Gucci bag” 20065-channel video (each
channel has 3 screens creating a line of 15 different screens)
*see dvd
video still from “Note to Self: There’s a hot sauce stain on my Gucci bag” 20065-channel video (each channel has 3 screens creating a line of 15 different screens)
*see dvd
Video still from“Soda on the Side” 2007
Single channel video, split screen
“...with a soda on the side” 2007digital c-print
16x60”
“Nature vs Nurture” 2006digital c-print
20x30”
“Jane Doe” 2004-05c-print
24x30”