| Jeremy Blake | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 4, 1971 Fort Sill, Oklahoma, United States |
| Died | July 17, 2007 (aged 35) Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA) California Institute of the Arts(MFA) |
| Occupation | Digital artist Painter |
| Partner | Theresa Duncan |
Jeremy Blake (October 4, 1971 – July 17, 2007) was an American digital artist and painter. His work included projected DVD installations, Type C prints, and collaborative film projects.
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A graduate of the both School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA '93) and (California Institute of the Arts (MFA 95), he was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 2000, 2002[1] and 2004.[2] His "Winchester" series, inspired by the story of Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mystery House, was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2005.[3] He also was selected to participate in the Renaissance Society group exhibition, "All the Pretty Corpses", in 2005.[4]
Blake also created the painted abstract hallucination scenes in the 2002 Paul Thomas Anderson film Punch Drunk Love, and contributed artwork and video for Beck's album Sea Change. Blake was also involved in creating and commissioning a soundtrack album called The Forty Million Dollar Beatnik with Neil Landstrumm and Mike Fellows in 2000 on Scandinavia Records and Pork Salad Press to accompany an LA drawings/script show by Blake of the same title.
His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art[5] and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[3]
Blake was the boyfriend of filmmaker, cultural critic and pioneering video game creator Theresa Duncan. In February 2007, the couple moved from Los Angeles to New York City, and resided in the East Village. He was also the son of Anne Schwartz Delibert and the brother of Adrienne Morningstar Delibert.
On July 10, 2007, Blake found Duncan dead in their apartment, the result of suicide. On July 17, 2007, Blake was reported missing off New York's Rockaway Beach. According to news accounts, a woman called 911 to report that she saw a man walking out into the ocean. Blake's clothes and wallet were reportedly found along with a suicide note that referred to Duncan. [6]
According to statements by acquaintances of the couple that have appeared in published reports (including an article in the January 2008 Vanity Fair), Blake said that he and Duncan were being followed and harassed by Scientologists prior to his disappearance. Blake also included his allegations of harassment by Scientologists and others in a 27-page "chronicle" he prepared for a lawsuit he planned to file.[7]
The couple was posthumously profiled in the September 10, 2007 issue of Newsweek.
On November 30, 2008 the New York Post's Page Six reported that Bret Easton Ellis is writing a screenplay about Duncan and Blake. Director Gus Van Sant has signed on as a consultant for the movie, which is being produced by Braxton Pope and Andrew Weiner of Ithaka films along with Lionsgate.[8]
The Law & Order episode "Bogeyman" in season 18 is loosely based on the deaths of Duncan and Blake. In the episode, the body of the character paralleling Theresa Duncan has forensic evidence that calls into question her suicide, while the Jeremy Blake parallel character survives his suicide attempt. A case against him is disrupted by the cult group Systemotics, resulting in a near mistrial followed by a plea accepted after the ADA implies both he and the judge are connected to Systemotics.