Jordan Wolfson

Jordan Wolfson is an American artist living and working in New York City and Los Angeles. His art is known for addressing social commentary, violence and entertainment,^[1] using film, sculpture, installation and performance.

Biography

Wolfson was born October 9, 1980 in New York City. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2003 receiving his BFA in Sculpture.^[2]

Wolfson was awarded the Cartier Award from the Frieze Foundation in 2009.^[3][4]

Work by Wolfson is held in public collections worldwide, including Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy; Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.^[5]

As of 2016 he is represented by David Zwirner Gallery and Sadie Coles HQ.^[6][7]

Work

Institutions which have previously hosted solo shows of Wolfson's work include; the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (2011); and the Kunsthalle Zürich (2004).^[8] His first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom was presented in 2013 at the Chisenhale Gallery in London.^[9]

In 2013, Jordan Wolfson: Ecce Homo/le Poseur marked the most comprehensive survey of his work to date, organized by the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent.^[10]

In 2014, a selection of Wolfson’s video work was exhibited as part of the 6th Glasgow International^[11] and he participated in 14 Rooms presented during Art Basel.^[12] 14 Rooms was curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist, the exhibition was a collaboration between Fondation Beyeler, Art Basel, and Theater Basel.^[13]

Female Figure

Wolfson's 2014 work, Female Figure is an animatronic sculpture of a woman dressed in a negligee, thigh high vinyl boots and a green half witch mask, covered in dirt marks and scuffs.^[14] The figure dances seductively, speaking in a male voice. Using facial recognition technology, she locks eyes with viewers through a mirror.^[14] The work addresses the violence of objectification.^[15]

Real Violence

Wolfson's immersive 3-D VR work "Real Violence' is being exhibited as part of the 2017 Whitney Biennial and immediately became the focus of media attention due to the graphic intensity of the acts portrayed therein.^[16][17][18] "Real Violence" was designed to draw debate on the nature of VR as an authentic experience that the viewer has authority over.^[18] There has also been criticism over the work "Real Violence" at the New Museum screening of the work (in 2017).^[1] The debate was on the role of the artist, Wolfson's responsibility in making a political statement with his art and if there is a role of privilege/power hierarchy that should have been addressed when dealing with the subject matter of violence.^[1]

Other notable exhibitions

• 2006 – Untitled (Frank Painting Company, Inc.), Whitney Biennial, New York^[19]
• 2007 – Optical Sound, solo exhibition curated by Alessandro Rabottini, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), Bergamo, Italy^[20]
• 2008 – untitled false document, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York, New York City^[21]
• 2009 – The Exhibition Formerly Known as Passengers, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco^[22][23]
• 2012 – Animation, masks, Alex Zachary Peter Currie gallery, New York City^[24]
• 2012 – Animation, masks, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna^[25]
• 2012-2013 – Raspberry Poser, REDCAT, Los Angeles^[26]
• 2013-2014 – Raspberry Poser, solo exhibition, Chisenhale Gallery, London^[27]
• 2014 – Female Figure, 14 Rooms, Art Basel, Serpentine Gallery, London^[28]
• 2016 – Colored sculpture, David Zwirner Gallery, New York^[29]
• 2017 – Real Violence (VR work), Whitney Biennial, New York^[18]

References

Notes

• "Jordan Wolfson: Ecce Homo/le Poseur", Texts by Esther Leslie, Linda Norden, and Philippe Van Cauteren. Interview with the artist by Aram Moshayedi. REDCAT, Los Angeles, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, and Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2013. ISBN 978-3-863354-14-5
• Jordan Wolfson, Marion Ackermann (dir.) and Moritz Wesseler. Interview with the artist by Stefan Kalmár. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, and Distanz, Berlin, 2012. ISBN 978-3-942405-48-5
• Cotter, Holland. "Jordan Wolfson." The New York Times (April 11, 2014): C20
• Tumlir, Jan. "Jordan Wolfson." Artforum (March 2013): 285 [ill.]

External links

• Jordan Wolfson's Website
• Video: Jordan Wolfson's Female Figure (2014) dancing on YouTube