Jillian McDonald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jillian Mcdonald is a conceptual artist from Canada, living in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is often humorous and features references to popular films. Her works take the form of video art, net art, performance art, installations, and photographs.
In her recent work (2003 - present), she is interested in the American cult of celebrity, extreme fandom, and the idea of fear as entertainment in horror films. Her best-known works include "Me and Billy Bob", for which she digitally manipulated romantic scenes from Hollywood films starring actor Billy Bob Thornton, investigating celebrity obsession. In "The Screaming", she inserted herself into horror films such as The Shining and Alien, screaming at the monsters to scare them away or blow them to bits. In "Horror Makeup", she applies makeup on a subway commute, turning herself into a zombie.
Her work is shown internationally by institutions like The Whitney Museum of American Art's Artport, and The National Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow; and in festivals such as The Sundance Online Film Festival in Park City, Utah, The Seoul Net Festival in Korea, ISEA, and the Montreal Biennial. She received grants and commissions from The Canada Council for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, Soil Media, Turbulence.org, Harvestworks, and The Gunk Foundation. She was granted artist in residence status at numerous organizations including The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York, The Western Front in Vancouver, and The Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin County, California.
