Justin Cooper Installations 2008-2015
Š 2015
Canopy May 1 – 21, 2015 Installation at Living Arts, Tulsa, OK Metal folding chairs, garden hose, metal
Spreadsheet October 1, 2014 – April 30, 2015 Mixed media installation at 55 5th Ave, New York, NY Presented by Time Equities, Inc. Art-in-Buildings Program
Canoodleing 2014 commissioned outdoor Installation, private collection Garden hose, metal
Homestretchbody February 16 – March 30, 2014 Indoor and outdoor installation at Testsite, Austin, TX Curated by Rachel Adams, Associate Curator University at Buffalo Art Galleries
Essay by Homestetchbody Curator Rachel Adams “A line has direction- a point of orgin and a point of termination. A line is also a discrete entity which exits altogether at the same time.” - Fred Sandback What do pumpkins, garden hoses, seashells, and PVC piping all have in common? They are all materials likely to be found in the work of Justin Cooper. He recontextualizes and envisions these inanimate objects in a way that is simultaneously surprising, humorous and formal. Whether a performance using stacked patio chairs that repeatedly get topped and thrown, or colorful, squiggly lines threaded across paper, Cooper’s works have a very architectural feel within the varied contexts in which he works. While humor and even pandemonium play large roles in Cooper’s practice, he truly is a formalist. Each work is the gesture of a line drawn in space. Whether pondering his zany, abstract drawings or his dynamic sculptures, the line is consistent. It stands upright, connects two points, creates new personas, or vibrates through the space. The end results are works that are chaotic yet balanced. One word that describes Cooper’s practice is lively. He couples elements of mundane everyday materials with the performative gestures. Even within his works on paper, his narrative always seems to jump off the page. While creating a hybridity between his formal, aesthetic decisions and his surrealist contemplations via materials, Cooper melds influences from Happening performance artist Allan Kaprow and the very provocative Paul McCarthy with the deadpan humor of Andy Kaufman. His work has evolved from varied practices such as working with found or store-bought materials, and examining the role of the body and the psyche within performance. However, the backbone to his practice is drawing. As with many artists, the true pleasure of mark making is simply taking a pencil to paper. Although Cooper’s drawings can later influence making of larger sculptures, photographs, and performances, they truly stand alone. Returning to his consistent study of the line, Cooper’s drawings are colorful, energetic, and detailed. They attempt to conquer the line while alluding to the bipartisan aspect of balance and chaos that is intertwined in his practice. The exhibition at testsite marks five years since his first garden hose installation Thread (2008_ at Gallery 400 in Chicago. In each of the hose installations, Cooper responds to the spacein an improvisational manner, allowing the work to take form when he actually begins installing. He inserts metal armatures into the hose in order to physically manipulate the material. The hoses fly through the space, twisting and tangling in a calculated way. Thread snaked a mile of garden hose through the gallery, playing off the architectural eccentricities such as the columns and the exposed ductwork. In Nexus (2009), Cooper installed the hoses outside in the round at Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. Similar to Thread, the hoses are sculptural, but the context is quote changed. Installing the work outdoors, where the hose slightly blends into the lush summer landscape, alters the impact. Instead of the green
hose popping against the stark color of the white cube, the hoses take on a more organic, camouflaged feel within the field. They rise from the ground, like a set of creatures in a dance. With both of these installations, Cooper regards architecture and spontaneity, drawing with the hose, similar to how Fred Sandback used string to cut through a space. As these works are sitespecific, Cooper’s installation at testsite will play off the domestic setting of the gallery. Cooper adds mystery and humor to his work by forcing subjects into energetic, yet somewhat precarious positions. Conceptually, the artist acknowledges how everyday materials take on a different personality when placed in an art context and he relies on how nonsensical that may feel. And perhaps that is a good thing. Why shouldn’t there be a garden hose snaking though a living roo m?
5 Questions for Justin Cooper by Rachel Adams, January 2014 Rachel: The first time I encountered your installation with garden hoses, I was blown away. How did you first envision using that as a material? Justin: I first dabbled in garden hoses while I was in grad school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It all began with a simple wish to see a garden hose somehow magically standing upright, ramrod straight, creating a simple line. I thought of it as a kind of minimalist hallucination. This thought process actually describes a lot of my work since it stemmed from an interest that was equal parts formal and conceptual. Formally I was intrigued by the simplicity of the object and conceptually it was still important that it be a common garden hose as opposed to just a green line of metal or something. The material choices in a lot of my work are always meant to provide a critique. After some experimentation I found threading the hose with rebar produced the desired effect. I then went on to make a series of sculptures called Hose Logs where the logs acted as pedestals with the stiff hoses perched on top. This process eventually evolved into the large-scale installations I’ve been making for the last few years. In the testsite piece, the hoses are fitted with metal armatures to provide the “skeleton” which now allows for more involved manipulation, a process I liken to drawing in space. Rachel: Performance has consistently been a part of your practice since undergraduate school. What prompted the shift in the past few years from performing around your work in the galley to the more improvisational standup it has become? Justin: I went to undergrad at the University of Colorado in Boulder. It was here I began performing after taking a course on performance art with a great teacher, Frances Charteris, on a whim. This really blew things wide open for me artistically. Up to this point I had been doing maily sculptural work along with some painting but was frustrated and was really hunting for a way to make my work more “me”. Performing also allowed me to access a huge amount of ideas quickly and directly that just had not made sense to explore in the other mediums. There was a risk I liked to performing, and immediacy and a danger that was exciting. And probably most importantly it provided a platform to explore the comedic which has been a driving force of all my work since then. Tapping into all this really gave me and my young practice a jolt of energy that helped carry me through college and into grad school where I developed a lot of important collaborative performance relationships with the likes of Benjamin Bellas, Ross Moreno, Clinton King, Reed Barrow and Andrew Willgress. This is another essential aspect of performance: that lends itself to collaboration. In the last few years my performance work has been moving from an emphasis on physicality and interactions with objects to more language-based work. I think this has been due to a steady evolution of my sculptural practice that has become a little more refined over the years. The objects I make these days are more “sculpture” than “prop” and have less of a direct dialogue with the performative. I’ve also been focusing more on writing and using language as a kind of object such as the brief monologues that make up a lot of my performance work now. In a sense, these are “sculpted” in their development, as well as memorized which is a sort of sculpting og the brain. I’m still very interested in the bigger physical slapstick elements of the work but I’ve moved more towards a deadpan approach
which is more about the language and delivery. It’s a little more challenging for me than running around a gallery screaming through that certainly tends to be more cathartic. Rachel: Your work utilizes everyday domestic materials such as wheel barrows, garden hose, plastic outdoor chairs, and Hawaiian leis. As testsite is the home of founder Laurence Miller, how are your thoughts about the installation different than when your work in a white cube space? Justin: I’ve always gravitated towards everyday objects as material for my sculptures and installation. They take on a different resonance in a white cube gallery context, obviously, so creating the installation at testsite is an interesting experiment for me. In previous garden hose installations there tends to be a kind of wobble between the material as both formal object and garden hose with the difference being around 50-50. At testsite, the fact that it is an actual home I feel will put more emphasis on the material for what it is with less of that perceptive wobble. This is intriguing to me because I think it allows for a more narrative read. In the context of Laurence’s home I could see the garden hose appearing more alive, menacing and out of control. Like an infestation. Rachel: Drawing is an integral part of your practice and included in Homestretchbody are new drawings. How do there drawings influence your sculptural and performative practice? Justin: Though I tend to emphasize the performative elements of my work, the true foundation, the bedrock, has always been drawing. For me, drawing is the most basic form of mark making and essentially expression itself. It has been the engine behind my practice from my earliest elementary school art classes. It’s the element of my work that continually feeds all other aspects; every idea and strategy can be traced back to my drawings in one way or another. I kind of think of it as the decoder ring to the rest of my work. This tends to just confuse people more though. Rachel: Knowing your work for some time now, I have always seen and felt the balance of chaos and order. Can you speak to this duality? Where does it stem from? Justin: There is another principle that I haven’t touched on directly and that’s the improvisational nature of much of my work. This to me embodies the chaos you mention that I try to balance out with more controlled or “scripted” elements. There is a constant tension between the two at play in my practice and it’s probably most obvious in my performances. It’s these improvised elements that lend the “danger” I discussed before as well as keeping the work fresh. Improvisation also creates a site-specificity, especially at a venue like testsite. You’ll recall I declined doing a preliminary visit because I want to really emphasize the spontaneous nature of these installations which I think can get lost in more formalized settings.
Under Construction March 7 – 11, 2012 Installation at Hotel Particulier, New York, NY Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Nexus 2009 outdoor installation at Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN Garden hoses, metal armatures
Thread April 22 – May 31, 2008 Gallery 400 at University of Illinois, Chicago Garden hoses, metal armatures
Justin Cooper (American, b. 1976, lives NY) has an MFA in sculpture, performance, and video from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), a BFA from the University of Colorado (2003), and studied at the Sorbonne, Paris (2002). He had a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine (2007) and was included in the 2003 Colorado Biennial at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Cooper has performed and exhibited worldwide, in Hong Kong, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles, Mexico and Sweden. In 2012, Cooper and long-time collaborator Ross Moreno performed at the Sculpture Center, Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, NY; Synchronicity Space, LA; Dixon Place, NYC; and RedLine, Milwaukee. Since his last solo show at moniquemeloche, Cooper has had solo exhibitions at Beta Pictoris, Birmingham, AL and the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, CO. Recent group exhibitions include Afterimage at DePaul Museum of Art, Chicago, hi*a*tus at Grand Rapids Art Center, MI, and Under Construction curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud at Hotel Particulier, NY. He presented a solo project at Hotel Particulier in 2012, and was among the three artists presented by moniquemeloche at UNTITTLED Miami that same year.
JUSTIN COOPER American, born 1976, lives New York Education 2005 MFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 2003 BFA, The University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, graduated summa cum laude 2002 studied at the Maison Des Etudiants through the Sorbonne, Paris, France Solo Exhibitions (performances where noted) 2015 Canopy, Living Arts, Tulsa, OK 2014 Homestretchbody, testsite, Austin, TX, exhibition catalog available 2012 Board, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL Thin Lines, Beta Pictoris Maus Contemporary Art, Birmingham, AL (performance) 2011 Like You, Curated by Cortney Stell, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, CO (performance) 2010 Studio Visit, New Media Wall at Tufts University art Gallery, Medford, MA 2009 Nexus, Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN Interrogation, Le Flash 2009, Atlanta, GA (performance) Here/Not There, curated by Tricia Van Eyck, MCA, Chicago, IL (performances) Paranormaldise, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL 2008 Log Roll, in collaboration with Benjamin Bellas, Pedestrian by Art in Odd Places, New York, NY (performance) Thread, Art at the Edge, Gallery 400, Chicago, IL (performances) 2006 Middle Management, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL (performances) We’ll Miss you… as part of the Sight Unseen Festival, Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (performance) Sharks don’t ever sleep, and they don’t have any bones, as part of An Incomplete Map of Everything, Links Hall, Chicago, IL (performance) 2004 Sharks don’t ever sleep and they don’t have any bones, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO (performance) Group Exhibitions 2013 Headcase, Dodge Gallery, New York, NY 2012 The Chair tranceformed,Hotel Particulier, New York, NY Afterimage, Curated by Dahlia Tulett and Thea Nichols, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL Phase, Redline, Milwaukee, WI (performance) hi • a • tus, Grand Rapids Art Center, Grand Rapids, MI [under construction], Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Hotel Particulier, New York, NY 2011 Pulp, Beta Pictoris Maus Contemporary Art, Birmingham, AL The Open Daybook Exhibition, curated by David P. Earle, LACE, Los Angeles, CA 2010 New Work, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL Knock Knock, Curated by Sarah Murkett & Elana Rubinfeld, Fred Torres Collaborations, New York, NY (performance) Production Site: The Artist’s Studio Inside-Out, Curated by Dominic Molon, MCA, Chicago, IL
Group Exhibitions continued 2009 Thank you as part of The 7th Annual Midwestern Assorted Produce Snuff Shorts Film Triennial, Boots Contemporary Arts Space, St. Louis, MO (performance) i.e. Illusions, Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI 2008 Only Blue Deer Lonely American (Illinois Art Council Re-mix), Alogon Gallery, Chicago, IL (performance) Video screening, AOT Gallery, Minneapolis, MN The Drawing Show, Curated by Brian Ritchard, The Beverly Art Center, Chicago, IL 2007 IRRATIONAL EXHIBITS 6, Curated by Deborah Oliver, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA (performance) Interiority, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (performance) i.e. Between, Harold Washington College, Chicago, IL i.e. llusion, performance/exhibition, 1a:space, Hong Kong, China 2006 Working Frameworks Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, (Skylab Gallery, Columbus, Oh; Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL) The World Is Flat, Gallery Lifebomb in Berlin, Germany Patheticize, Open End Gallery, Chicago, IL Amorph!06, International Performance Art Festival; Helsinki, Finland 18th Evanston+Vicinity Biennial Evanston, IL Pixel Dance ‘06 Thessaloniki, Greece Ballroom Blitz The James Hotel in Chicago, IL (performance) Signal and Noise performance festival in Vancouver, British Columbia In Feed, video screening at the University of Toronto in Mississauga, Ontario Smoke and Mirrors: Photography and Performance, Ohio University, Athens, OH 2005 Pixelfestival: Video, Experimental Film, and Electronic Music Festival, Berlin, Germany Uppsala International Short Film Festival in Uppsala, Sweden Prog:Me Festival of Electronic Media, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil This, this, this, this, this, this, this and this, Gallery 2, Chicago, IL Rooftop Films Summer Series, Brooklyn, NY Small Change Film Screening Series, Philadelphia, PA Portland Documentary and Experimental Film Festival, Portland, OR Alchemy, Betty Rymer Gallery, Chicago, IL Island Art Film and Video Festival 2005, Prenelle Gallery, London, UK Spark Video 4.4 Screening, Spark Contemporary Art Space, Syracuse, NY 2004 One Night Stand, PAC/edge Performance Festival, Chicago, IL LA Shorts Film Festival, Hollywood, CA Emerging Illinois Artists, McLean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL 2003 Remark/eted Trade Show, 1926 Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003 Colorado Biennial: "10+10", Denver Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, CO Dreams and Dream Makers, Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Xochimol, Mexico
Performances 2014 The Big Draw: It’s Our World, in collaboration with Ross Moreno, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY The Introducing Series, in collaboration with Ross Moreno, Window 125, New York, NY 2012 Yeti and Firebush Presents, in collaboration with Ross Moreno, Gallery Cabaret, Chicago, IL Phase and Bio, Redline Milwaukee; Milwaukee, WI Thin Lines, Beta Pictoris Maus Contemporary Art; Birmingham, AL SkowheganPERFORMS, Socrates Sculpture Park; Queens, NY Sculpture Center LIC Block Party, Kristen Chappa, curator – Sculpture Center, Queens, NY Ryan Travis Christian Presents, Synchronicity Space LA – Los Angeles, CA Chuckles + Avant Garde Comedy Festival, host – Cameo Gallery, New York, NY Chuckles + Avant Garde Comedy Festival, host – 1027 Grand Street Studios, Brooklyn, NY Club Nutz, Scott and Tyson Reader, curators – Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA 2011 Cult Logic, Julie Torres, curator – Airplane Gallery – Brooklyn, NY hi◦at◦us: – Urban Institute for Contemporary Art – Grand Rapids, MI Chuckles + Avant Garde Comedy Festival, host – Gershwin Hotel Theater, New York, NY Like You, Curated by Cortney Stell, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, CO 2010 KnockKnock: That Joke’s Not Funny Anymore, Fred Torres Collaborations; New York, NY 2009 Here/Not There, curated by Tricia Van Eyck, MCA, Chicago, IL Interrogation, Le Flash 2009, Atlanta, GA 2008 Interior Monologue; National Hotel Miami, FL Log Roll, in collaboration with Benjamin Bellas, Pedestrian by Art in Odd Places, New York, NY 2007 Translator Please, in collaboration with Magdalen Wong; 1a Space Kowloon, Hong Kong Lens Cap, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; Skowhegan, ME 2006 Middle Management, moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL We’ll Miss you… as part of the Sight Unseen Festival, Cultural Center, Chicago,IL Sharks don’t ever sleep, and they don’t have any bones, as part of An Incomplete Map of Everything, Links Hall, Chicago, IL 2004 Sharks don’t ever sleep and they don’t have any bones, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO Selected Bibliography 2014 Adams, Rachel, “Homestretchbody”, testsite 14.1, Fluent Collaborative. 2012 Foumberg, Jason, “Review: Justin Cooper’s Board”, Chicago Magazine, Nov. 20 2011 Griffin, Amy, “Basilica Hudson a New Temple of Contemporary Art: NADA to Fill Hudson with Site-Specific Work”, timesunion.com, July 24. “Justin Cooper has a party with his Playful Exhibit “Like You”, Denver Post, March 4. 2010 Ritchie, Abraham. “Cohesive by Coincidence” www.artslant.com, Dec 6. Parr, Jan. “Getting the Picture” Chicago Home & Garden magazine, May/June. Landi, Ann. “Where the Art Happens”, ARTnews, June. Oh, Janet. “Production Site” Art in America.com April 25. Pallas, J. Thomas “Review Production Site: The artist studio inside out” NewCity, Feb 8.
Selected Bibilography continued 2009 Wolff, Rachel. “Create and Conquer.” Chicago Social Magazine. Dec, p. 68. Holmes, Gretchen. “Colonial Willaimsburg for the Liberal Humanist: An open conversation with Justin Cooper.” Art Talk Chicago (blog). July 27. Pearson, Laura. “Extended Play.” TimeOut Chicago. June 25 - July 1. p.43 Waxman, Lori. “Justin Cooper”. ArtForum May, p.243-44. Francis, Sean. “Ones to Watch” Chicago Tribune Magazine, April 19. Schroeder, Amy. “Justin Cooper: Paranormaldise,” Time Out Chicago, Issue 209, 02.26 – 03.04. Artner, Alan. “Review: Justin Cooper” Chicago Tribune, Feb 13. Gunn, Dan. “Review: Justin Cooper/Monique Meloche” New City Chicago, Feb 9. Apple, Lauri. “An Interview with Artist Justin Cooper.” Chicago, Feb 6. 2008 Snodgrass, Susan. “Justin Cooper” Review. Art in America. Sept. Mazzei, Rebecca. “Home Front Art: The Click Clique.” CS Interiors. Summer. Nash, Courtney. “Justin Cooper: Thread”. Flavorpill, April. Elms, Anthony. Justin Cooper: Thread. exhibition essay. Foumberg, Jason. “Eye Exam: Fantastic Antics”, Newcity Chicago, March 11. 2007 Wong, Kevin. “It’s All An Illusion,” South China Morning Post. Sep 28. 2006 “Large Gourd,” The Chicago Reader, Nov. “On the Scene: Middle Management”, Chicago Journal, Jan 19. Ferrara, Annette. “Review: Middle Management”, www.flavorpill.net, Jan 21. Workman, Michael. Review: Middle Management: “Ladies Night”, New City, Jan 12, p 13. Review: Middle Management, www.badatsports.libsyn.com, Jan 9 . Today’s Candy: The Weekend Guide, www.dailycandy.com, Jan 5. 2004 Review: 2003 Colorado Biennial: “10+10”, The Denver Post, Jan 14. 2003 Review: 2003 Colorado Biennial: “10+10", Denver Westword, July 15. Review: 2003 Colorado Biennial: “10+10", The Denver Post, June 5. Review: Spring 2003 BFA Student Exhibition, Daily Camera News, May 2. “Third Front Range Student Art Exhibit”, Steppin’ Out Online Magazine, Jan. 1999 Review: Juried Exhibition at Axis Mundi Gallery, Daily Camera News, Dec. 1998 “New Genre Festival”, Spot Magazine, June. “Outsider Artists”, Tulsa World News, April. Grants, Awards, and Residencies 2015 Art Omi Residency, Ghent, NY 2010 Artist in Residence, RedLine, Milwaukee, WI 2009 Open Studio Artist Residency and Grant, Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN 2009 Summer Residency: Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Woodside, CA 2007 Summer Term: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME 2004 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (finalist)
Grants, Awards, and Residencies continued 2003 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Merit Scholarship ArtsBridge Scholarship recipient Related Experience 2008 - 2010 Instructor for the First Year Program at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2008 Instructor for “Collaborating with the Enemy” at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2006 - 2010 Instructor for “Improv Infrastructures” at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2005 - 07 Service Bureau Technician at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2004 - 05 Teacher’s Assistant, First Year Program at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2004 Teacher’s Assistant, Early College Program as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Public Collections Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago MediaMath, New York, NY
moniquemeloche was founded in October 2000 with an inaugural exhibition titled Homewrecker at Meloche’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