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HVCCA, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art: FALL 2007 - SUMMER 2008 - 21 Oct 2007 to 27 July 2008 Current Exhibition |
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Folkert de Jong,
studio view (detail) of Mount Maslow (2007), Styrofoam, polyurethane foam & pigment |
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Folkert de Jong - Mount Maslow, 2007 (Peekskill, NY) On Sunday, October 21st, Dutch artist Folkert de Jong returns to the HVCCA with a massive site-specific installation entitled Mount Maslow. De Jong is one of the most innovative young sculptors working today whose first museum exposure in the US occurred at the HVCCA in two seminal exhibitions: Figure It Out, and Reverence. In his work, De Jong stages chaotic figurative scenes using Styrofoam and pigmented polyurethane foam. His works are often concerned with historical issues as well as issues of the moment such as wars and the abuse of power. He works convey an uncanny and dream-like quality where the perverse often collides with the familiar. Commenting on De Jong�s use of materials, HVCCA founder Marc Straus writes, �He has made these materials his in the same way (if not more than any other artist) as Yves Klein is identified by a specific blue or Jeff Wall by a specific light box.� The concept behind Mount Maslow originated in De Jong�s interest in the work of psychologist/philosopher Abraham Maslow, who proposed �a pyramid of needs� in his 1943 paper �A Theory of Human Motivation�. Maslow�s theory, based upon his observations of humans' innate curiosity, contended that as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. For De Jong, it seems inevitable that humans will always seek more through whatever means necessary, yet the peak of the �pyramid of needs� is something elusive and intangible: spiritual fulfillment. From the platform of the lower exhibition level at HVCCA a Styrofoam structure reaches up to the ceiling. The visitor, moving up the stairs to the second level, is almost literally climbing the installation Mount Maslow. So are two bearded figures in full mountain climbing gear, which De Jong equipped with backpacks, rope, an ice axe and sleeping bags. They appear to have halted their climb to stare at a prophecy from up above. Carved as it were in the endless ice of the glacier in giant letters are the words �Hamburger Hill�. Set in May 1969 during the Vietnam War, �Hambuger Hill� is a movie based on an account of the strategic assault by the U.S. Army on a well-fortified position of the North Vietnamese Army. Writing about De Jong�s choice to reference this film, Straus observes, ��Hamburger Hill� is a favorite of some on the political right, with its bombastic macho posturing. Here the struggle is seen as noble. De Jong once again acknowledges that the retelling of history requires many voices; all renditions of war are relevant.� Layering references to spiritual aspiration, war, popular culture, and philosophical propositions, De Jong performs a signature remixing of complex contemporary social and political issues. Mount Maslow functions ambiguously as both a monument to the human quest for progress and a stark memorial to the waste that results when egotism is confused for transcendentalism. ABOUT THE ARTIST Folkert de Jong was born in Egmond aan Zee, the Netherlands in 1972. He attended the Rijksakademie for Visual Arts, Amsterdam. He was co-founder of the foundation Space For Artists, Amsterdam. In 2003 De Jong was a finalist for the Prix de Rome for sculpture. Recent solo exhibitions include: Der Falsche Prophet, Peres Projects, Berlin (2007), Gott Mit Uns, Lever House, New York (2007), Medusa�s First Move: The Council, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2005); recent and upcoming exhibitions include Destroy Athens, Athens Biennial (2007) and Chronic, Museum Dhondt Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium (2007). Folkert de Jong lives and works in Amsterdam. A fully-illustrated catalogue, published by James Cohan Gallery and Black Cat Publishing Amsterdam, with essays by HVCCA founder Marc Straus and art critic Gregory Volk, will be available for sale at the museum during the exhibition. Folkert de Jong�s exhibition has been realized through the generous financial support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. ALSO ON VIEW Size Matters: XXL - Recent Large-Scale Paintings September 16, 2007 - July 27, 2008 Size Matters: XXL - recent large-scale paintings, the second installment of a two-part exhibition investigating scale in contemporary painting. From the monumental to the miniature, a painting's dimensions are crucial to its context and success (e.g. massive wall murals commissioned for specific architectural spaces or small religious icons used for devotional purposes). Featuring 31 artists from 9 different countries, XXL presents work in which scale plays an essential role in achieving the goals of the artist. By occupying nearly the entire visual field of the viewer, these paintings demand absorbed attention. From German artist Jonathan Meese's 25-foot mixed media exploration - incorporating photographs, found objects, journal papers, graffiti tags, and splashy puddles of paint - to iconic American artist Richard Jackson's living room set doused in paint, XXL investigates painting's boundaries in order to assert the fact that it is still vital medium that continues to defy simplistic categorizations. The exhibition features a majority of work produced within the last three years. FEATURING: Janis Avotins Tjebbe Beekman Mark Bradford Daniel Buren Mike Cloud Francesca DiMattio Caroll Dunham Tim Eitel Zhang Enli Alexander Esters Bendix Harms Christian Hellmich Anton Henning Richard Jackson Kristina Jansson Aaron Johnson Toba Khedoori Uwe Kowski Sven Kroner Tala Madani Jonathan Meese John Newsom Yan Pei-Ming Ryan Pierce Ulf Puder Neo Rauch Christoph Ruckhaberle Pierre Soulages Erik van Lieshout Tom Wesselmann Toby Ziegler HVCCA to present performance and gallery talk with artist JONATHAN MEESE Saturday May 10th, 2008 12:00-2:00pm Peekskill NY - The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art will present a performance and gallery talk with world renowned artist Jonathan Meese on Saturday, May 10, 2008 from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Meese is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. His 20 foot mixed media exploration entitled "Fort Knox" is featured in HVCCA's current exhibition Size Matters: XXL - recent large scale paintings. Organized by HVCCA founder Marc Straus, the exhibition includes 31 artists from 9 countries and will be on view through Sunday July 27th, 2008. $5 Adults $4 Seniors/Educators $2 Students/Children FREE HVCCA Members ### ABOUT THE ARTIST Jonathan Meese was born in 1970 in Tokyo and lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg. He began his career as a painter and then extended his practice and mainly dedicated himself to installation and performance. The trancelike state which he obtains during his performances has allowed him to explore new realms and realities. In the last two years Meese has had solo shows at La Caixa, Barcelona, Kunstraum Innsbruck, The Essl Museum in Vienna, De Appel Centre for Contemporary Art, Amsterdam and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. In addition, he has shown at the Louisiana Museum, MAGASIN Center in Grenoble and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg. He performed in Wagner's Parsifal in Berlin. Jonathan Meese is represented by Bortolami Gallery, New York and Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin. Chris Jones : HVCCA Artist-in-Residence Spring 2008 Exhibition Opening Sunday May 18th, 2008 Artist talk 4:00pm with reception to follow Peekskill NY - The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the exhibition opening of the museum's Spring Artist-in-Residence Chris Jones on Sunday May 18th, 2008. There will be an artist talk and image presentation at 4:00pm with a reception to follow. Chris Jones began his three-month residency in February 2008, during which he has worked directly in HVCCA's mezzanine gallery to produce intricate site-specific sculptural installations. The results of his residency will be combined with examples of recent work and will be on view through August 17th, 2008. ### ABOUT THE EXHIBITION Chris Jones creates sculptures that hover between the fantastical and the mundane, composed of images from magazines, calendars, encyclopedias and posters. Jones' life-size recreation of a motorcycle for example is reminiscent of a creation from Mad Max, at once retro and futuristic, beautiful and frightening, exquisitely detailed and fragmented. These polar positions make us look at this familiar object anew. It resonates strongly with the language of movies and advertisements, but at the same time Jones allows in much broader possibilities without imposing answers. During his residency at the HVCCA, Jones has lived in Peekskill creating a new group of works, piecing together local stories, history and terrain. These have all filtered into the work via personal and idiosyncratic connections, building up incrementally to form scenes that reference these immediate surroundings. The full size horse and stagecoach that forms the main piece in the show is his most ambitious work to date. This is an image that is at once universal and at the same time very American - having permeated the world via television and film to become an icon of the 'American Old West'. Inspired by an historical photograph of a coach and horses passing through Peekskill, the piece resonates with a history of 19th century American travel, with folklore, and a local history of horse farms, conjuring up a manifestation of the past that appears in the gallery space like a spectral apparition. Jones work reminds that everything around us comes with a deeply embedded history and a multitude of stories to tell- that is, if we pay close enough attention. ABOUT THE ARTIST Chris Jones was born in Preston, England 1975 and currently lives and works in London. He received his Masters in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London in 2002 and his Bachelors of Art from the University of Central Lancashire, Preston in 2000. Forthcoming exhibitions include Jones' second solo show at Galerie Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam in 2008. Recent 2007 exhibitions include Bird Watching De Vishal, Haarlem and A Song Turning Inward, OneTwenty Gallery, Ghent, Belguim. In 2003 Jones was commissioned by fashion house KENZO Paris for the launch of the new Pont Neuf flagship store, and was awarded the Red Mansion Art Prize, resulting in a two-month residency in Kun-Ming, China. Chris is represented by Galerie Martin van Zomeren in Amsterdam. ABOUT HVCCA The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art opened to the public in June 2004. Founded by the Marc and Livia Straus family, the not-for-profit center is dedicated to the development and presentation of new art, exhibits and interdisciplinary programs that enrich our understanding of contemporary art, its contexts, and its relationships to societal issues. The Center is committed to the enrichment of Peekskill, a multicultural community that has recreated itself as a major center for art and culture. HVCCA operates a 12,000 square foot exhibition space in Peekskill and is the primary sponsor of the Peekskill Project, an annual, city-wide exhibition of site-specific artwork. |
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