Jo Nigoghossian Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
I have a certain respect for the stubborn survival of any object, building, being, or ground after a disruption (weather, traffic, a protest). I work to push an object to its limits by testing the weight or strength of materials until they literally break and have to be fixed. Somehow, when an object survives the aggressive nature of it’s making, it is stronger. I am inspired by an object that is thoroughly exhausted, that is anthropomorphic, has attitude and has been repositioned so many times that it needs to rest. It can be funny to think of disused objects as loitering, relaxing and taking well-earned breaks. Humor is developed and animated through the use of clothing and embellishments, employing print, drapery and detail in debased ways. By revoking a material’s inherent power, my work embodies a comically unfortunate disposition.
It is my intention for a work to carry the essence of it’s related space, action and interactions by being the place an object moves through, the object that is dragged, the person who drags it and the place it might go. My process ensures each piece suffers multiple transformations so that it has experienced several postures and viewpoints before it is complete. My method avoids commitment to form and stability, allowing the objects to exist in different moments in time. The result is used sculptures, that are worn down and fragile, that build and reveal ‘character’ and alternative forms of strength.
I have a certain respect for the stubborn survival of any object, building, being, or ground after a disruption (weather, traffic, a protest). I work to push an object to its limits by testing the weight or strength of materials until they literally break and have to be fixed. Somehow, when an object survives the aggressive nature of it’s making, it is stronger. I am inspired by an object that is thoroughly exhausted, that is anthropomorphic, has attitude and has been repositioned so many times that it needs to rest. It can be funny to think of disused objects as loitering, relaxing and taking well-earned breaks. Humor is developed and animated through the use of clothing and embellishments, employing print, drapery and detail in debased ways. By revoking a material’s inherent power, my work embodies a comically unfortunate disposition.
It is my intention for a work to carry the essence of it’s related space, action and interactions by being the place an object moves through, the object that is dragged, the person who drags it and the place it might go. My process ensures each piece suffers multiple transformations so that it has experienced several postures and viewpoints before it is complete. My method avoids commitment to form and stability, allowing the objects to exist in different moments in time. The result is used sculptures, that are worn down and fragile, that build and reveal ‘character’ and alternative forms of strength.
CV
Born 1979, Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Education
MFA - Sculpture, Yale University School of Art - 2009
BFA - New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute – 2003
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010
Paper! Awesome!, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Dark: A Show to Winter, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR
2009
Aggregate: Art and Architecture – a Brutalist Remix, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT
Chat for the Now, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY
Careerists and Visionaries, Marc Jancou Gallery, New York, NY
2007
Women’s exhibition, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2005
Art in the Age of New Technologies, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2004
Death by Tealight, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Video As Urban Condition, Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK
2003
Intervals, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, CA
2002
I hate being a girl, Spanganga, San Francisco, CA
Repurpose, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Appropriate, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Screenings
2006
Louder Than Bombs, S1 Artspace, Sheffield, UK
2005
In League With Forces of Evil: Video Art from San Francisco, Kino Lab Zamek Ujazdowski Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
Take 291, 291 Gallery, London, UK
Sync, The Rio Cinema, London, UK
Prizes
2009 Fannie B. Pardee Prize, Yale University
Articles
2009 Michelle Docimio, The Brutalist on the Block Meets a Utopian State of Mind, Artes Magazine, Nov 12th
Born 1979, Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in New York, NY
Education
MFA - Sculpture, Yale University School of Art - 2009
BFA - New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute – 2003
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010
Paper! Awesome!, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Dark: A Show to Winter, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR
2009
Aggregate: Art and Architecture – a Brutalist Remix, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT
Chat for the Now, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY
Careerists and Visionaries, Marc Jancou Gallery, New York, NY
2007
Women’s exhibition, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2005
Art in the Age of New Technologies, Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, Armenia
2004
Death by Tealight, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, CA
Video As Urban Condition, Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK
2003
Intervals, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, CA
2002
I hate being a girl, Spanganga, San Francisco, CA
Repurpose, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Appropriate, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Screenings
2006
Louder Than Bombs, S1 Artspace, Sheffield, UK
2005
In League With Forces of Evil: Video Art from San Francisco, Kino Lab Zamek Ujazdowski Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
Take 291, 291 Gallery, London, UK
Sync, The Rio Cinema, London, UK
Prizes
2009 Fannie B. Pardee Prize, Yale University
Articles
2009 Michelle Docimio, The Brutalist on the Block Meets a Utopian State of Mind, Artes Magazine, Nov 12th
Crushed shell stomach, 2010H26” x L20” x W15”
cast grey and white concrete, crushed Florida shells, Skittle, Poland Spring bottle, rebar
Crushed shell stomach (detail), 2010
Suede fringe, 2010H25” x L24” x W24”
metal, concrete, burlap, grey brown suede
Subdued tweed, 2010H15” x L10” x W27”
tinted cast concrete, paint, tweed samples, metal, wood
Subdued tweed (detail), 2010
Leopard print towel, 2010H28” x L24” x W24”
cast concrete, bronze paint, spray paint, towel, rusted steel wool, metal
Untitled, 2010H26” x L32” x W35”
rebar, wood, concrete, metal, sheer fabric, paint
Window, 2010H40” x L11” x W38”
cast concrete, spray paint, plexiglass, wood, sweatshirt, burlap, wire, leather boot
Hole, 2009 H34"xL36"x35”
cast concrete, wire, broken glass vase, wood, cardboard
Hair piece, 2009H9” x L15” x W9”
hair piece, concrete, spray paint
Zebra print, 2009H19” x L40” x W22”
cast concrete, spray paint, cushion, burlap, railroad wood
Hooked curb, 2009H8” x L19’x W12’
cast concrete, leather boot, denim, spray paint
Hooked curb (detail), 2009
Hooked curb (detail), 2009
Stretch Velvet Leotard, 2009H36 x L18 x W9 inches
rebar, concrete, leotard, metal, wood, plaster, rope
Landscape, 2009H28” x L26” x W26”
3 legged dolly, wood, spray paint, hay, concrete, burlap, sheer fabric, rebar, wire
Landscape (detail), 2009
Scorched vinyl, 2009H34” x L82” x W36”
blow torched vinyl, rebar, cast concrete, soil, spray paint, burlap, conduit, mop head
Measly flowers, 2009H5.5” x L27” x W12”
sheer fabric, burlap, concrete, chicken fence, rebar, wire
Figure, 2009H3.25’ x L5’ x W25”
hand knit sweater, plaster, concrete, burlap, rebar, dolly, conduit, wood,