Zak Kitnick Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
Inverting the boundaries between art, interior design, and commodity production, my work explores how these parallel worlds borrow from each other equally, acquiring and defusing each other’s potential.
My work attempts to expand on conceptual art’s interest in décor as at once the antithesis and inevitability of art.
Of particular interest are objects and materials that masquerade as design or quality by conjuring historical or art historical precedents.
In the work, utilitarian objects-- easy-to-use, easy-to-ignore products of daily life-- are abstracted by the systems that organize them, their structure overwhelming the subject matter.
I want the work to look utilitarian as a way of examining how form-follows-function became a style.
The works address a rotating and circular set of concerns: the aestheticization of information, information as decoration, decoration as organization and organization as aestheticization.
In the work, dichotomies erupt—haptic/optic, décor/utility, image/object, art/decoration—in infinite regress.
Using elements of residential and industrial products, I insert myself into the anonymous system of distribution, exploring the relationship of person to object, and to the means of production.
Inverting the boundaries between art, interior design, and commodity production, my work explores how these parallel worlds borrow from each other equally, acquiring and defusing each other’s potential.
My work attempts to expand on conceptual art’s interest in décor as at once the antithesis and inevitability of art.
Of particular interest are objects and materials that masquerade as design or quality by conjuring historical or art historical precedents.
In the work, utilitarian objects-- easy-to-use, easy-to-ignore products of daily life-- are abstracted by the systems that organize them, their structure overwhelming the subject matter.
I want the work to look utilitarian as a way of examining how form-follows-function became a style.
The works address a rotating and circular set of concerns: the aestheticization of information, information as decoration, decoration as organization and organization as aestheticization.
In the work, dichotomies erupt—haptic/optic, décor/utility, image/object, art/decoration—in infinite regress.
Using elements of residential and industrial products, I insert myself into the anonymous system of distribution, exploring the relationship of person to object, and to the means of production.
CV
ZAK KITNICK
Born 1984, Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Education
2006 BA Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York, NY
One and Two Person Exhibitions
2011
Zak Kitnick and Valerie Snobeck (curated by Maxwell Graham), Shane Campbell, Chicago, IL
2010
Zak Kitnick, Landings Project Space, Vestfossen, Norway
Zak Kitnick / Fredrik Værslev, curated by Geir Haraldseth, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
Zak Kitnick STAMPS and Erik Lindman PHOTOGRAPHS, West Street Gallery, New York, NY
2008
Ode to Joy, Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions
2011
Heads with Tails (Organized by West St. Gallery), Harris Lieberman, New York, NY
Productive Steps, Mount Tremper Arts, Mount Tremper, NY
Kenji Fujita, Zak Kitnick, Sam Pulitzer: Live at the Acropolis, The Company, Los Angeles , CA
Waiting Ground (organized by Heather Rowe and Tommy White), Kate Werble, New York, NY
Tax Day News & Smoke, The Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, NY
Not the Way You Remebered, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY
Proposal for a Floor, curated by Alex Gartenfeld, 1500 Broadway, New York, NY
The Balloon, Southfirst Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner, New York, NY
2010
The Every Other Day, Ideo Box, Miami, FL
Last Minute Intervention, Shoshana Wayne 2, Los Angeles, CA
One Man’s Mess Is Another Man’s Masterpiece, Bugada & Cargnel, Paris
Bilgugstrom, Allan Nederpelt, Brooklyn, NY
All the Splendors of the Earth, Cave, Detroit, MI
Visionairies, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
2009
EAF 09 Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY
Between Spaces, PS1 Museum, Queens, NY
La Panique du Noyau, l'Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Brest, Brest
Trade Secrets, John Connelly Presents, New York, NY
Good Vibrations, Carol Bove, Brooklyn, NY
Murphy Beds, Southfirst Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Speculative Frontier, Light Industry, Brooklyn, NY
If The Dogs Are Barking, Artists Space, New York, NY
Changing Light Bulbs In Thin Air, Hessel Museum, Annandale, NY
It Ain’t Fair, OHWOW, Miami, FL
Showroom, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
2008
Salad Days, Artists Space, New York, NY
Alone/ Together, Talman+Monroe, Brooklyn, NY
I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl, Asia Song Society, NY
2007
Ask, ASK, Kingston, NY
Coprolalia, UBS, Bard Exhibition Center, Red Hook, NY
Bibliography
2011
Mallory Rice, “Uncommon Projects,” Nylon Guys Magazine, July, p31
“Offset Summary,” The New Yorker, January 16
Jonah Wolf, “Meet Brooklyn Sculptor Zak Kitnick,” The Huffington Post, February 11
Amelia Ishmael, “What We Have in Common, Zak Kitnick, Valerie Snoebeck,” Artslant, May 30
Erik Lindman, “Screens,” Stamps/Photographs
2010
Jonah Wolf, “Zak Kitnick. In the studio with the up-and-coming Brooklyn sculptor,” Papermag, July 17
2009
Alex Gartenfeld, “Out-of-Site; Young Art in Miami,” Art in America, January 12
John Beeson, “Between Spaces at PS1,” Bomb, November 6
Stephen Squibb, “Fall at PS1,” Idiom, October 26
Alice Gregory, “EAF at Socrates,” Idiom, October 1
Emily Nathan, “Interview with Summer Guthery and Zak Kitnick,” ArtSlant, May 16
Gioni Massimiliano ; Laura Hoptman; Lauren Cornell, “Younger than Jesus: The Artist Directory,” Phaidon Press, May
Geir Harshald, “Interview with Zak Kitnick,” Landings, January 21
2008
Fan Zhong, “What’s the Polish Word for Art?,” Interview, December 17
Amy Owen, “Marginal Utility,” Salad Days at Artists Space, July 9
ZAK KITNICK
Born 1984, Los Angeles, CA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Education
2006 BA Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York, NY
One and Two Person Exhibitions
2011
Zak Kitnick and Valerie Snobeck (curated by Maxwell Graham), Shane Campbell, Chicago, IL
2010
Zak Kitnick, Landings Project Space, Vestfossen, Norway
Zak Kitnick / Fredrik Værslev, curated by Geir Haraldseth, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
Zak Kitnick STAMPS and Erik Lindman PHOTOGRAPHS, West Street Gallery, New York, NY
2008
Ode to Joy, Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, NY
Group Exhibitions
2011
Heads with Tails (Organized by West St. Gallery), Harris Lieberman, New York, NY
Productive Steps, Mount Tremper Arts, Mount Tremper, NY
Kenji Fujita, Zak Kitnick, Sam Pulitzer: Live at the Acropolis, The Company, Los Angeles , CA
Waiting Ground (organized by Heather Rowe and Tommy White), Kate Werble, New York, NY
Tax Day News & Smoke, The Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, NY
Not the Way You Remebered, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY
Proposal for a Floor, curated by Alex Gartenfeld, 1500 Broadway, New York, NY
The Balloon, Southfirst Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Offset Summary, Rachel Uffner, New York, NY
2010
The Every Other Day, Ideo Box, Miami, FL
Last Minute Intervention, Shoshana Wayne 2, Los Angeles, CA
One Man’s Mess Is Another Man’s Masterpiece, Bugada & Cargnel, Paris
Bilgugstrom, Allan Nederpelt, Brooklyn, NY
All the Splendors of the Earth, Cave, Detroit, MI
Visionairies, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
2009
EAF 09 Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY
Between Spaces, PS1 Museum, Queens, NY
La Panique du Noyau, l'Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Brest, Brest
Trade Secrets, John Connelly Presents, New York, NY
Good Vibrations, Carol Bove, Brooklyn, NY
Murphy Beds, Southfirst Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Speculative Frontier, Light Industry, Brooklyn, NY
If The Dogs Are Barking, Artists Space, New York, NY
Changing Light Bulbs In Thin Air, Hessel Museum, Annandale, NY
It Ain’t Fair, OHWOW, Miami, FL
Showroom, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
2008
Salad Days, Artists Space, New York, NY
Alone/ Together, Talman+Monroe, Brooklyn, NY
I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl, Asia Song Society, NY
2007
Ask, ASK, Kingston, NY
Coprolalia, UBS, Bard Exhibition Center, Red Hook, NY
Bibliography
2011
Mallory Rice, “Uncommon Projects,” Nylon Guys Magazine, July, p31
“Offset Summary,” The New Yorker, January 16
Jonah Wolf, “Meet Brooklyn Sculptor Zak Kitnick,” The Huffington Post, February 11
Amelia Ishmael, “What We Have in Common, Zak Kitnick, Valerie Snoebeck,” Artslant, May 30
Erik Lindman, “Screens,” Stamps/Photographs
2010
Jonah Wolf, “Zak Kitnick. In the studio with the up-and-coming Brooklyn sculptor,” Papermag, July 17
2009
Alex Gartenfeld, “Out-of-Site; Young Art in Miami,” Art in America, January 12
John Beeson, “Between Spaces at PS1,” Bomb, November 6
Stephen Squibb, “Fall at PS1,” Idiom, October 26
Alice Gregory, “EAF at Socrates,” Idiom, October 1
Emily Nathan, “Interview with Summer Guthery and Zak Kitnick,” ArtSlant, May 16
Gioni Massimiliano ; Laura Hoptman; Lauren Cornell, “Younger than Jesus: The Artist Directory,” Phaidon Press, May
Geir Harshald, “Interview with Zak Kitnick,” Landings, January 21
2008
Fan Zhong, “What’s the Polish Word for Art?,” Interview, December 17
Amy Owen, “Marginal Utility,” Salad Days at Artists Space, July 9
0001The Car (Or Cars), 2010
Plexiglass and hardware
84 x 48 x 8 inches
0002The Car (Or Cars), 2010
Plexiglass and hardware
84 x 48 x 8 inches
DETAIL
0003City, 2011
MDF, chrome stool and auto primer
16 x 16 x 30 inches
0004Another Person’s Water, 2011
Steel shelving
50 x 25x 92 inches
0005Cutting Crusty Bread Followed by Sweeping, 2009
Bronze, brass and copper on MDF in plexi
23.5 x 23.5 x 3.25 inches
0006Cutting Crusty Bread Followed by Sweeping, 2009
Steel, aluminum and nickel on MDF in plexi
23.5 x 23.5 x 3.25 inches
0007About Working at P.S.1, 2009
Vinyl tiles and book
144 square feet
0008The People Behind Our Products, 2009
Die-cut aluminum sheet, MDF and other media
39 x 27.5 x 3.5 inches each, overall variable
0009The Other People Behind The Other Products, 2009
Die-cut aluminum sheet, MDF and other media
39 x 27.5 x 3.5 inches each, overall variable
0010Index of Titles, 2011
Die-cut aluminum sheet, MDF and other media
39 x 39 x 3.5 inches
0011The Person Behind Our Product (Gray, Clover), 2010
Die-cut aluminum sheet, MDF and other media
27.5 x 39 x 3.5 inches
0012Untitled (Stamps), 2010
Oil-based ink on intaglio paper
20 x 30 inches
0013FIRST FROM THE MEANS, 2009
Steel shelving
3 x 4 x 10 feet
0014FIRST FROM THE MEANS, 2009
Steel shelving
3 x 4 x 10 feet
DETAIL
0015Up, Down, Left, Right for Jean Nouvel, 2008
Four blinds, MDF and hardware
7 x 70 x 18 inches
0016Up, Down, Left, Right for Jean Nouvel, 2008
Four blinds, MDF and hardware
7 x 70 x 18 inches
0017Endlessly the Same, 2010
Cardboard, baking pan, paint
30 x 40 x 6 inches
0018 Endlessly the Same, 2010
Cardboard, magazine, paint
30 x 40 x 6
0019Zuhandenheit, 2009
Four shelves
4 x 2 x 6 feet
0020Zuhandenheit, 2009
Four shelves
4 x 2 x 6 feet
DETAIL