Bryan Zanisnik     Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List
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Artist Statement
Working in performance, photography and video, and often incorporating my parents, my multidisciplinary practice addresses issues of aging and decay, masculinity, the patriarchal family, Freudian psychology, and Americana culture. Recent live performances include the shaving of my head and the transference of my hair onto my father’s bald head. Another performance entailed my parents standing absolutely still for three-hours and staring at my professedly burnt and dead body. My photographs also explore these issues of time and masculinity by creating narratives that unfold around enigmatic sets and objects build within the studio. The narrative of each constructed set constantly shifts, appearing as a child’s bedroom, the cluttered basement of an obsessive individual, and as a small-town, Americana museum.
CV
Bryan Zanisnik
bzanisnik@earthlink.net

Born in 1979, Union, NJ
Lives and Works in Brooklyn, NY

EDUCATION
2009    M.F.A. Hunter College
2008    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
2001    B.A. Drew University

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010
Mediations Biennale 2010, Poznan, Poland
Beside Himself: Exhibiting Male Anxiety, Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR
In.flec.tion, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY

2009   
Dry Bones Can Harm No Man, Sunday L.E.S., Lower East Side Project Space of Horton Gallery, New York, NY
Atomic Burger Flipper, Ten Haaf Projects, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (solo)
That’s All Folks, Stadshallen, Bruges, Belgium
My Gay Uncle, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY
Haffner, Porcella, Zanisnik, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
Young Curators, New Ideas II, P.P.O.W., New York, NY
New Insight, Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
T.error – Your Fear is an External Object, Hungarian Cultural Center, New York, NY

2008
T.error – Your Fear is an External Object, Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary
MetroPoles, Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY
Picturing America, SAC Gallery, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Corpus Kinetics, Cuchifritos, New York, NY
This Land is Your Land, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Sprawl, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ
Aïeules, Galerie RDV, Nantes, France

2007
80 Year War, Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, Project Room, New York, NY
Red Badge of Courage, National Newark Building, Newark, NJ
First Look II, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Scodown, Dumbo Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
Good Morning City Noise, Soemardja Gallery, Bandung, Indonesia

2006
Washington Crossing the Meadowlands, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ (solo)
Watch It, SAC Gallery, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
The Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
Emerge 7, Aljira, Newark, NJ
60 Seconds of Play, Saltworks Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Drop, Exit Art, New York, NY
High Roads & Low Roads, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL

2005
Multiplex, the Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
I Am 5, Parker’s Box, Brooklyn, NY
True Mirror, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ
Video Salon, Alternator Gallery, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

2004
In/Out, AG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Underexposed 6, Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
The Mouth Breathers, NURTUREart Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2003
Food For Thought, Sumei Arts Center, Newark, NJ
Momenta Art Benefit, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY

2002
Dumbo Art Under the Bridge Festival, Dumbo Arts Center, Brooklyn, NY
The Brewster Project, Brewster, NY

SCREENINGS AND PERFORMANCES
2010
Now Playing, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, NY
Art in Odd Places, New York, NY
The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY
Kurye International Video Festival, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Domestico, Y Gallery, New York, NY
#Class, Winkleman Gallery, New York, NY
You are Free, Tape Club, Berlin, Germany
Crash-Crush, Mains d’Oeuvres, Paris, France

2009
Seven Easy Steps, Horton Gallery, New York, NY
Crash-Crush, Todaysart Festival, The Hague, the Netherlands
Hollow Man Levitate, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Lost & Found, Theatrum Anatomicum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Videospace, Dresdner Bank, Frankfurt, Germany

2008
HVCCA Auction, Yvon Lambert, New York, NY
Salad Days III, Artists Space, New York, NY
Performance Laboratory, Broadway 1602, New York, NY
Unfurl Me, Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, NY

2007
BoundLES, University Settlement, New York, NY
George Kuchar and Bryan Zanisnik, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
For the Fun of It, EFA Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Spark Video, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
60 Seconds of Play, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
New Media/New Work (CAA), Art Interactive, Cambridge, MA

2005
Teknikunst Film Festival, Kaleide Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
This Insane World, California State University, Northridge, CA

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2010
Artist in Residence, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
Artist in Residence, Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, Poland

2008
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

2007
Art Omi International Artists Residency
Artist Fellowship, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Graf Travel Grant, Hunter College

2005
Emerge Fellowship, Aljira
Artist Grant, The Puffin Foundation

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
Sarah LaDuke, “HVCCA – in.flec.tion,” WAMC / NPR, March 30, 2010
David Duncan, “Bryan Zanisnik at Sunday L.E.S.,” Art in America, January, 2010, p. 118 – 119
In.flec.tion, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (catalogue)
That’s All Folks, Stadshallen, Bruges, Belgium (catalogue)

2009
Joseph R. Wolin, “Critic’s Pick,” Artforum.com, November 3, 2009
Ernest Loesser, “Artist Bryan Zanisnik: The Heeb Interview,” Heeb Magazine, October 29, 2009
Kim Levin, “Young Curators, New Ideas II,” ARTnews, October 2009, p. 124
Joseph R. Wolin, “Young Curators, New Ideas II,” Time Out New York, Issue 725, August 20 - 26, 2009, p. 4
Don Porcella, “Don Porcella Interviews Bryan Zanisnik,” Culture Strike, Summer 2009, www.culturestrike.com
Charlie Schultz, “Separate But Equal,” Artslant, August 16, 2009
Roos van der Lint, “De spaghetti-eters,” Kunstbeeld, August 14, 2009
Lily Rose, “Previews August 6,” Whitewall Magazine, August 6, 2009
Yaelle Amir, “Fight the Pasta,” Artslant, July 24, 2009
Atomic Burger Flipper: Bryan Zanisnik, Gup Magazine, Issue 19, Spring 2009
Evelyn Austin, “Lost & Found in de Waag: Film in de 21ste eeuw,” Cut-Up Magazine, Issue 46, April 2009
Joyce Youmans, “Play: A Group Show at Spruill Gallery,” Burn Away, April 1, 2009, www.burnaway.org

2008
Mary Logan Barmeyer, “Corpus Kinetics,” Paper Magazine, July 3, 2008
Martin Bromirski, “Bryan Zanisnik…Plus,” Anaba, May 29, 2008, www.anaba.blogspot.com
James Yood, “This Land is Your Land at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago,” Art on Paper, May/June 2008, p. 86 – 87
Carrie Ruckel, “The Museum of Contemporary Photography: This Land is Your Land,” Chicago Access Network Television, Winter 2008
Sprawl, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ (catalogue)
Robert Knafo, “Bryan Zanisnik: Studio Visit,” NewArtTV.com, Winter 2008

2007
James Wagner, “Bryan Zanisnik @ Priska Juschka,” JamesWagner.com, October 19, 2007
Martin Bromirski, “Bryan Zanisnik,” Anaba, October 12, 2007, www.anaba.blogspot.com
Critics’ Pick, New York Magazine, October 1, 2007, p. 98
Jennifer Melick, “Marsh Madness,” NJ Monthly, August 2007, p. 84
Yaelle Amir, “Studio Visit: Bryan Zanisnik,” Whitehot Magazine, Number 4, Summer 2007
Georgette Gouveia, “Modern Muses,” The Journal News, April 5, 2007, p. 1D
Catherine Spaeth, “Giving New Artists a Place to Be Noticed,” The New York Times, February 25, 2007, p. WE-8

2006
Jill P. Capuzzo, “Reframing New Jersey,” The New York Times, October 8, 2006, p. NJ-12
Mitchell Seidel, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Jersey,” The Star-Ledger, October 6, 2006, p. 23
Contingencies of the Real, Renee Vara Fine Arts, New York, NY (catalogue)
Benjamin Genocchio, “Tristate Talent Search Hits a High Note,” The New York Times, August 6, 2006, p. NJ-10
Mary Birmingham, “On a Thought Voyage,” The Jersey Journal, June 30, 2006, p. 24
High Roads & Low Roads, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL (catalogue)

2005
Benjamin Genocchio, “Searching for an Identity in Newark,” The New York Times, March 20, 2005, p. NJ-10

2003
Micaela Giovannotti, “Dumbo Art Under the Bridge,” Tema Celeste, Number 95, January – February 2003, p. 113
When I was a Child I Caught a Fleeting Glimpse, Performance, 2009.

This performance consists of a 1,000 pound bale of crushed aluminum, my parents, my burnt body, an automotive bow and a steering wheel. For the three-hour duration of the performance, my parents remained completely still and stared at my burnt body as I lay over the bale of crushed aluminum.
After-Klang and Excise of Time, Performance, 2010.

This performance consists of an overhead school projector, a series of transparencies, my parents, a treadmill and live music. For the 1.5 hour duration of the performance, my parents sat on the floor dressed as school children and arranged personal and found imagery on an overhead projector. Extraneous wires ran from the projector to my body, which was running on a treadmill while holding a table leg and my 1986 Halloween parade trophy.
After-Klang and Excise of Time, Performance, 2010.
Spring Scale and Lure, Performance, 2009.

For the two-hour duration of this performance, I lay absolutely still inside a swamp installation while my father stands outside the installation dressed as a fisherman. The only movement is the subtle shifting of my father’s fishing pole, whose hook is attached to a box built around my leg.
Spring Scale and Lure, Performance, 2009.
Ten-Thousand Meals Than Ever Yet, Performance, 2009.

For the two-hour duration of this performance my parents sit absolutely still over individual plates of pasta. The only movement during the performance is the subtle shifting of my father’s plate, which is controlled by a series of ropes I slowly manipulate from inside the coffin-like table.
Ten-Thousand Meals Than Ever Yet, Performance, 2009.
Unshaved Coiffure and Root, Performance, 2010.

This performance entails my father shaving my entire head, my mother reassembling my hair into a wig, and then the wig being placed onto my father’s bald head. Accompanying the performance is a video projection and a reading of a 19th century Lord Byron poem.
Unshaved Coiffure and Root, Performance, 2010.
The Itinerant Chiffonier, Performance, 2009.

A performance that includes a waltz between my mother and father, a body concealed within a dresser, a professional falsetto vocalist and my mom frozen with her mouth wide open.
Unfurl Me, Performance, 2008.

This performance begins with me being carried into a gallery rolled up inside a carpet. My dad unfurls me and then we make crowns for each other. Once finished, we place the crowns on each other’s heads and begin slow dancing to live music. Behind us is a video of my dad hypnotizing my mom to make her vacuum the house, wash the dishes and clean the dirty laundry.
Hollow Man Levitate, Performance, 2009.

My body is covered in peanut butter and white bread by three cloaked men. Then the men carry my body over their heads and aggressively pass me off into the audience.
Hollow Man Levitate, Performance, 2009.
He is Not a Man, Performance, 2007.

A performance in which I box a bully from my youth. The bully is dressed as a wolf, which references my great grandfather, who wrestled and killed a wolf in the Ukraine one hundred years ago.
The Bough That Falls with All its Trophies Hung, 35” x 83”, C-Print, 2009.
Off Season, 40” x 78”, C-Print Triptych, 2010.
One Touch is Never Enough, 30” x 60”, C-Print, 2010.
Forgot What I Came Back Here For, 24” x 28”, C-Print, 2010
To Hell and Back (Nothing), 40” x 30”, C-Print, 2008.
Club House, 24” x 29”, C-Print, 2010.