2011 Artist Nominee Gallery

Boris Chesakov Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List

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Artist Statement
Through my work I am trying to understand the necessity of making things, not just how they are made, but specifically why they are made. A question that frequently surfaces is the social value of a disposable object. In other words, I seek to understand the physical language of object-hood.

I am interested in how materials can be re-purposed. For instance how upholstery fabric, stripped off of furniture, can become clothing and what that says about the relationship between a human body and the frame of a chair.

There is also a drive towards spectacle, attempts at breaking the infrathin by introducing a visual non-sequitur to the environment; always leaving something unanswered such as the element of danger underscored by crude construction and, at the same time, made that much more seductive or the distracting texture of ratty upholstery fabric tailored to fit the body. This sort of material transformation leaves an incongruence in my work that serves as the backbone of my practice.

CV
Boris Chesakov
bchesakov@gmail.com

Education

2009
MFA, Yale University School of Art

2006
BFA, Youngstown State University (YSU), Ohio

Exhibitions

2009
Careerists and Visionaries. Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York

Video/Performance. Yale University Art Gallery

2008
Pizza Book Launch. Printed Matter, New York

Roof-Top Group Show. The Redemption Center. Brooklyn, NY

2007
Artists of the Mahoning Commons. Oakland Center for the Arts. Youngstown, OH

Group Show. Art Outreach Gallery. Niles, OH

2006
Prints! Photography, Digital, and Other. Desperate Living Room Studio. Tucson, AZ

2005
Installations. The Freemont House. Tucson, AZ

Recent Works. Unblurred. Pittsburgh, PA

Books. Girard Public Library. Girard, OH

Youngstown Percussion Collective. YSU. Youngstown, OH

A Spatial Special. YSU. Youngstown, OH

2004
Home Video. YSU. Youngstown, OH

Zaireeka, an Adesina performance after the Flaming Lips. YSU. Youngstown, OH

2003
Look Up! Adesina Spring Parade. Youngstown, OH and Pittsburgh, PA

Salvage Fashion Show. Construction Junction. Pittsburgh, PA

El Dragon Rojo. Rosarito, Mexico

Honors and Awards

2009
Norman Joondeph Traveling Fellowship. Yale University

Honorable Mention, Alice Kimball English Travel Grant. Yale University

2007
Joseph Salvatore Award. YSU.

2006
BFA Suma Cum Laude. YSU.

Useless Utilitarian II. 2006. Steel, Motor oil, Propane fired