Abigail DeVille 'Nobody Knows My Name' by Monique Meloche Gallery

on the wall

Abigail DeVille Nobody Knows My Name February 7 – May 30, 2015

This publication was created on the occasion of Abigail DeVille’s 2015 on the wall project, generously supported by a grant from the Wicker Park/Bucktown SSA #33

Abigail DeVille’s practice is formally accumulative, occupying a space between the claustrophobia of the urban environment and the expansiveness of the universe. DeVille cultivates awareness of material culture through the collection of its discarded remnants. For her on the wall project at moniquemeloche, Abigail DeVille produced a new installation in situ, continuing her investigation into the 18th-century idea of dark stars and the rejection of black holes. DeVille creates lush, textured environments that occupy a space between the claustrophobia of the urban environment and the expansiveness of the universe. Utilizing a site-responsive technique, DeVille cultivates an awareness of material culture through the collection of its discarded remnants. The artist states: Through the poetry of everyday experience and American history I create black hole room-sized sculptures that speak to different strands in American society’s material culture. Black holes are containers that are laden with forgotten information, the absence of light, power, knowledge and the harbinger of historical inaccuracies. I use celestial forms to think about our place in history, that links us to the beginning of time. Garbage contains the material history of the present and links to the past. Abigail DeVille (American, b. 1981, New York, NY, lives New York) received her MFA from Yale University in 2011 and her BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2007. DeVille has exhibited a growing constellation of site-specific installations in the United States and Europe. DeVille’s current a solo exhibition The Day The Earth Stood Still, is on view at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her most recent exhibitions include Material Histories at the Studio Museum in Harlem (2014); Outside the Lines at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston (2014); Gastown Follies, Artspeak, Vancouver, BC, (2013); Bronx Calling, The Bronx Museum of the Arts (2013); Future Generation Art Prize at Venice, The 55th Venice Biennale (2013); XXXXXXX, at Iceberg Projects, Chicago (2013); Fore, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2012); Future Generation Art Prize Exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine (2012); If I don’t think I’m sinking, look what a hole I’m in, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2012); First Among Equals, ICA, Philadelphia, PA (2012); The Ungovernables, New Museum, NY (2012); Bosch Young Talent Show, Stedelijk Museum, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (2011). Her work has been written about in New York Magazine, The New York Times, Artforum, Time Out New York, CAPITAL, Philadelphia Weekly, Interview, Black Book, Nylon, Art News and Paper Magazine. DeVille is a 2012 Joan Mitchell Foundation grant recipient, a 2013/14 Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, a 2014/15 recipient of The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellowship at Harvard, and a 2015 Creative Capital Visual Artist Award.

About The Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection The Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature is the largest collection of its kind in the Midwest. For this installation, Abigail used the Marjorie Joyner Stewart Papers, the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Archives, and the Timuel D. Black Papers. The Marjorie Stewart Joyner Papers Marjorie Joyner Stewart was a National Supervisor of the Madame C.J. Walker Beauty Colleges, chair of Chicago’s Bud Billiken Parade and Chicago Defender Charities, benefactor of Benthune-Cookman College, and an activist in the Democratic Party of Chicago. Her papers include correspondence, business records, programs, serials, clipping files, photographs and memorabilia. Organizational maters from the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association, Alpha Chi Pi Omega Sorority and Fraternity, Cosmopolitan Community Church, and the Bud Billiken Parade are also included.

The Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church Archives Ebenezer, founded in 1902, was one of the Chicago churches at the center of the gospel music revolution of the early 1930s. Under Rev. J.H.L. Smith, Ebenezer grew to more than 3,000 members and included Thomas A. Dorsey, Theodore Frye, Roberta Martin, Eugene Smith and Robert Anderson among those who made music there. The Ebenezer archives include church newsletters, souvenir programs, correspondence, financial records, photographs, sheet music, organizational records and memorabilia. The Timuel D. Black Papers Professor Emeritus at the City Colleges of Chicago, Timuel Black is a prominent historian, author, human rights activist, and expert on Chicagoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s African American history. During the 1960s, he was president of the Chicago chapter of the Negro American Labor Council, and organizer of Chicago participation in the 1963 March on Washington. Active in more than 100 organizations over seven decades, the collection includes extensive organizational files, correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, oral histories, audiovisual materials, photographs, and memorabilia. A special thank you to the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library and the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA #33. Televisions supplied by AVA recycling.

Nobody Knows My Name, 2015 Installation view

Nobody Knows My Name, 2015 Installation detail

ABIGAIL DEVILLE Born 1981, New York, NY Lives and works in New York, NY Education 2009-2011 2007 2003-2007 2000

Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, MFA. Major: Painting Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY, BFA (?09), (AAS ?06) Pratt Institute, New York, NY. Completes 32 Credits. Major: Illustration

Selected Exhibitions 2015 on the wall, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL The Day the Earth Stood Still. Byerly Gallery, Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, MA. 2014 Cousin Suzy and the Infinite Deep. Marginal Utility, Philadelphia, PA. Puddle, pothole, portal. Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY. Playing With Fire: Political Interventions, Dissident Acts and Mischievous Actions, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY The New Migration. DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Anacostica, DC Material Histories. The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY. Home. Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York, NY. Sensitive Instruments, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, Illinois. Rites of Spring. Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, Texas. 2013 Guts, Abrons Art Center, Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY. Black in the Abstract, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, Texas. Invisible Men: Beyond the Veil, Galerie Michel Rein, Paris, France. Gastown Follies, Artspeak, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Who Wants Flowers When You’re Dead?, The Poor Farm, Little Wolf, Wisconsin. Bronx Calling: The Second AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY. Future Generation Prize Exhibition, The 55th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy. They might as well have been remnants of the boat, Calder Foundation, New York, NY. XXXXXXX, Iceberg Projects, Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois. Njideka Akunyili & Abigail DeVille: New Paintings, Gallery Zidoun, Luxembourg. 2012 Fore, Studio Museum, New York, NY. Future Generation Prize Exhibition, Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine. Space Invaders, Lehman College Gallery, Bronx, NY. If I don’t think I’m sinking, look what a hole I’m in, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. First Among Equals, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA Invisibility Blues II, M55 Gallery, Long Island City, NY. Invisibility Blues, Recess Gallery, The Dependent Art Fair, New York, NY. The Ungovernables, The New Museum Triennial, New York, NY. 2011 Bosh Young Talent Show, Stedelijk Museum, ?s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The (S) Files 2011, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY. The Un-nameable Frame, MFA 2011 Thesis Exhibition, Green Gallery, New Haven, CT. Reflecting Abstraction, Vogt Gallery, New York, NY. 2010 Bonzai, Red Lotus Room, Brooklyn, NY. Planet of Slums, Mason Gross Galleries, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. Dark Star, Recess Gallery. New York, NY. Critical Perspectives, Green Gallery. New Haven, CT. Gold Mountain, Marginal Utility. Philadelphia, PA. Rompe Puesto, The Bronx River Art Center. Bronx, New York.

Selected Exhibitions continued 2009 How the Other Half Lives, Green Gallery. New Haven, CT. A proposito: Pan Latino Dialogues, Ely House. New Haven, CT. The Open, Deitch Studios. New York, NY. Black Gold, The Bronx River Art Center. Bronx, New York. 2008 Bronx Council of the Arts Open Studio Tour, Haven Gallery. Bronx, New York. 2007 The Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, New York. DK Magazine, Pro qm. Berlin, Germany Fine Arts BFA 2007 Thesis Exhibition, The Museum at F I T. New York, NY. CAA & NYCAMS BFA Exhibition, New York Center for Art & Media Studies. New York, NY. 2006 Selections 2006, Fashion Institute of Technology. New York, NY. ArtStar, Deitch Projects. New York, NY. Selected Bibliography 2014 Cauterucci, Christina, “ART BURN Just how much public input should there be in public art?” Washington City Paper, November 14. Kaplan, Sarah, “After debate about aesthetics and politics, Anacostia artwork is removed” The Washington Post, October 5. Stein, Perry, “Marion Barry on Anacostia Art Project: ‘It Looks Like Junk’", Washington City Paper, September 11. Cotter, Holland, "The Stuff of Life, Urgently Altered", The New York Times, August 28. Isherwood, Charles, "Beyond Shakespeare's Wildest Dreams", The New York Times, August 12. Glenow, Lauren, "Stratford Festivals A Midsummer Nights Dream: A Chamber Play", broadwayworld.com, August 2. Kaplan, Jon, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", www.nowtoronto.com, July 31. Nestruck, J. Kelly, "Dream fulfilled: You have to see Stratford's radical rethink of Shakespeare", The Globe And Mail, July 25. Ouzounian, Richard, "Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford: like you've never seen before", Toronto Star, July 25. Glentzer, Molly, "Two Works Share a Common Thread", The Houston Chronicle, January 31. Fitzgerald, Jason, "She Talks to Beethoven is a Fever Dream of a Play", The Village Voice, January 22. 2013 Frank, Priscilla, "Abigail DeVille's Cosmic Cacophony Heads To Harlem", Huffington Post, September 5. Sutton, Benjamin, "Studio Museum in Harlem Names Three Resident Artists for 2013-14", Blouin ARTINFO.com, August 21. Foumberg, Jason, “By Appointment Only: Viewing Art Privately in Chicago?”, Art in America, July 10. "Art and Ageism: The Decisive Eye of Fellow Artists", NY Arts, June. "Future Generation Art Prize Goes To Venice For First Global Event", ArtLyst, May 20. Eler, Alicia, "Abigail DeVille, Iceberg Projects", ArtForum, May 14. “Fore”, by Lloyd Wise, Artforum, May. Zarley, B. David, “Review: Abigail DeVille/Iceberg Projects”, Newcity Art, April 23. Foumberg, Jason, "Eye Exam: New Moves in Chicago Sculpture", Newcity Art, April 16. Picard, Caroline, “Edition #7”, Bad At Sports- contemporary art talk, April 15. 2012 Cotter, Hooland, "Racial Redefinition in Progress 'Fore' at Studio Museum in Harlem",The New York Times, November 29. "6 From Fore", Modern Painters, November. Wisnieski , Adam, "Artistic invasion of Lehman College life", The Riverdale Press, October 11. Kilmer, Robin Elizabeth, "Space Invaders arrive", The Bronx Free Press, October 10-16, Volume 3- No.41. Cotter, Suzanne,"The Ungovernables", Artforum, May. Halle, Howard, "Review: The Ungovernables", Time Out New York, April 3.

Selected Bibliography continued 2012 Saltz, Jerry, "Eight Hours at the Comfort Inn", New York Magazine, March 18. Rosenberg, Max, "The Ungovernables is more serious...", CAPITAL, February 17. Cotter, Holland, "Quiet Disobedience", The New York Times, February 16. "Mob of People Packs Into New Museum for Opening of 'The Ungovernables", Observer.com, February 15. Chou, Kimberly, "Local Talent Leads Downtown Triennial", The Wall Street Journal, February 10. "30 Artists to Watch in 2012: Part 1", by Jason Stopa, Kate Meng & Leah Schlackman 2011 Roberts, Gorgett, “Exhibitions of style; celebrating Hispanic art in New York”, NY Post, September 21. Fitzpatrick, Corrine, "Reflecting Abstraction", Artforum. 2010 Kukuljevic, Alexi, "Abigail D. DeVille's America", Machete, Vol. 1 No.11, September. Fallon, Roberta, "Art: Gold Mountain”, Philadelphia Weekly, August 24. "First Friday" We kvetch, we look, we clap", by Roberta Fallon & Libby Rosof, theartblog.org, August 10. 2009 "Black Gold in the Bronx", www.nyartbeat.com, August 26. 2006 “The Art of Reality TV”, Interview, August. “Project Deitch”, Black Book, July. “All Most Famous”, Nylon, July. “Art Talk: Famous in Eight Episodes”, Art News, June. “You’re Either In or You’re Out”, Paper Magazine, June. “Reality Show ArtStar to Begin on the Dish Network”, Artdaily.com, May 30. 2006 “ArtStar on Gallery HD: The Art World Tries Realism (the TV kind)”, The New York Times, May 28. “ArtStar: A Deitch Project for the Television Masses”, Artinfo.com, May 25. Art World Idol”, TimeOut New York, May 11. 2006 "Reality Bites”, by Michael Wang, Artforum, May 17. Press, Joy, “Future, Unscripted Fall Pilots: Real Deal, or No Deal?”, Village Voice, May 9. “Fly on the Wall Street”, Art Review, January/February. 2005 Bernard, Sarah, “Because at Least One Person on This Page Will be Justly Famous by 2010”, by New York Magazine, December 26. "The Dye is Cast”, by Michael Wang, Artforum, March 4. Kennedy, Randy, "Reality (on TV) Reaches Art World,", The New York Times, March 2. Theatrical Installations 2015 “SUN Both My Grandfathers, written and directed by Kirya Yvonne Traber, Lincoln Center, New York, NY March. Prophetika, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite, La Mama, New York, NY, March. The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite, MIT, Cambridge, MA, January. 2014 “A Mid Summer Nights Dream, by William Shakespeare”, directed by Peter Sellers, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada “She Talks to Beethoven”, by Adrienne Kennedy, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite, Jack performance space, Brooklyn, NY “The Sun Ra Visitation Series (Pt.2) Sun-ology”, by Sylvan Oswald, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite, Joe?s Pub at The Public Theater Special Projects 2014 Abigail DeVille’s Harlem Stories” New York Close Up, Art 21, September 19. The New Migration, 5x5 Project, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, curator Justine Topfer, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite, Anacostia, Washington DC. September 6October 31. “Abigail DeVille’s Flair for the Dramatic” New York Close Up, Art 21, June 6.

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships 2014-15 Artist residency, Harvard, Cambridge, MA 2013-14 The Studio Museum of Harlem Artist in Residence, New York, NY 2012 The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, New York, NY The Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of the New York Community Trust. International Studio and Curatorial Program, Brooklyn NY 2011 Alice Kimball Traveling Fellowship, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT 2007 Camille Hanks Cosby Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine 2005 The Frank Shapiro Memorial Award 2005 for Excellence in Fine Arts

moniquemeloche was

founded

October

2000

with

inaugural

exhibition

titled Homewrecker at Melocheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home, and officially opened to the public in May 2001. Working with an international group of emerging artists in all media, the gallery presents conceptually challenging installations in Chicago and at art fairs internationally with an emphasis on curatorial and institutional outreach.

moniquemeloche 2154 W. Division, Chicago, IL 60622 p 773.252.0299 www.moniquemeloche.com