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Jasmine Justice exhibition catalogue
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511 west 25th street, new york, ny 10001
www.cueartfoundation.org
2006–2007 jas m i n e j u st i c e
CUE Art Foundation
April 26 – June 2, 2007
CuratedbyDavidReed
JAsminE JUst i CE
LEAD sPOnsOR OF 2006-07 sEAsOn OF EXHiBitiOn CAtALOGUEs:
KYESUNG PAPER GROUP (SOUTH KOREA)
ADDitiOnAL sUPPORt PROViDED BY
ELIZABETH FIRESTONE GRAHAM FOUNDATION
THIS ExHIBITION IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY ??
We are honored and grateful to present this exhibition generously curated by David Reed. For the
CUE solo exhibition series, mr. Reed has chosen fellow artist, Jasmine Justice, who lives and works
in new York. ms. Justice is admired by her peers as an artist who has forged a unique artistic voice.
Reed’s appreciation of Justice’s work demonstrates just such admiration.
CUE is pleased to recognize that this is ms. Justice’s first solo exhibition in new
York. mr. Reed and we, together, celebrate this effort and wish her a future of fulfillment and success.
Foreword
Diamonds are…
(Big Rock Candy)
i first saw Jasmine Justice’s work when i was a visiting artist at Rutgers (Fancy). i liked the
rough physicality and materiality of her paintings (Plus or Minus). i especially remember seeing
a green painting that had been worked over many times (Chloro-fill) and a sheet of glass leaning
against the wall with clotted, dripping yellow paint (Grape Crush)—a piece that was hard to
call a painting (Grit). We spoke during that first meeting about ’70s experimental abstraction
(Seventies Secretion).
i like the way the physicality of her paintings can turn into an image (Urban Orbs), a doubling that
never seems possible, even as one sees it (Hovercrop). Looking at the paintings for this show, this
doubling reminds me of Gilles Deleuze’s description of crystal-form as a kind of form in which the
actual and virtual images are so united one can no longer distinguish which is which (Recycled
(Kiss)). in Jasmine’s paintings this crystal-form is complicated again by being both figurative and
abstract (Calamity Jane).
Her paintings are very theatrical (Skirt). As proof, she is very good with titles (Busypark). i wish
that i could think of such excellent titles for my paintings (Headlights).
Her paintings seem to have a story behind them (Savior (Isis Painting)). What stories do they
make with their doublings and combinations (Blushing Bride)? Why do we want to follow these
stories (Painter’s Tears)?
David Reed, January 23, 2007
Curator's statement DavidReed
i don’t ever want to know what a piece will look like until it’s finished. i make art to develop new
mental avenues and experience them in the physical realm, exploring and meditating upon
unknowns, thinking and making as simultaneously as possible.
i’ll get a strong feeling about a very particular shade of green and a compulsion to
put it into play. As the piece progresses i hold loosely to green’s role, its dominance fluctuating. if it
escapes i might not notice immediately. it might lead to recognizable imagery, or not. incidents are
allowed to remain at the brink of clarity or finish. the early stages of mental emergence are worth
appreciating. i have a fondness for these blunt yet malleable syntactical units, which conversely
arouse my appetite for lavish, painterly activity.
Artist's statement JasmineJustice
ConjoinedTwins, 2006Oil on canvas, 28" x 22"
GrapeCrush, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24" x 24"
Nestle, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 16" x 12"
Headlights, 2006Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"
Skirt, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 48" x 46"
BigRockCandy, 2006Acrylic on canvas, 44" x 42"
UrbanOrbs, 2007Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 16" x 12"
Fancy, 2007Flashe, acrylic and oil on canvas, 18" x 18"
Savior(IsisPainting), 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 36" x 36"
Recycled(Kiss), 2007Acrylic and oil on canvas, 48" x 48"
Headlights, 2006Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"
PlusorMinus, 2007Acrylic and Flashe on canvas, 16" x 12"
WendyWhite: in many of your paintings–for
example, the large one called Recycled (Kiss)
–there are dueling “compartments” in which
you attack separate but linked formal issues.
You tend to show the different possibilities
for a line, a shape, or a combination of things,
rather than delineating one independent
solution. When you’re painting, are you
presenting yourself with problems, resolving
them, and moving on... or is your process
largely intuitive?
JasmineJustice: i don’t usually start off with
a specific plan. Usually it’s more of a scenario
that i’m curious about. i try to have a studio
practice that will provide me with a wide range
of experiences. i like contrasting the qualities
or circumstances inside paintings against one
another. Often i feel compelled to create a
counter situation or alternative reality as a sort
of antidote to an arising circumstance within
a piece.
WW: so how do you decide where to stop? Do
you sometimes finish a painting (or problem)
within another painting?
JJ:it can be really hard to stop. if i don’t know
where to go with something i put it away for
a while, in some cases for months. sometimes
a really simple painting takes a long time to
finish. i’m not sure if it’s like this for you, but
when things are going well i get so excited
about where i’m going that i can hardly
contain myself enough to finish it.
WW:Oh yeah, definitely. sometimes
finishing feels hollow to me... like, why
bother just to make something look a certain
way when you’ve conceptually moved on
already? But that said, your paintings have
an unencumbered-ness to them... i think
somehow you’re managing to finish them
without adding any “finishing touches” – that’s
the best part. Are you conscious of that? Are
you ever trying to reconcile “decorative” or
“painterly” aspects?
JJ: i try to be really aware of what point they
might become bogged down or hermetically
sealed. i like to leave things open ended,
sometimes really rough or sketchy. some of
my strongest visual experiences have come
from looking at highly ornate mosques, Hindu
temples. And i love Art nouveau poster
borders and other decorated or densely
patterned surfaces, especially those indicating
otherworldly devotion. Patterning that
approaches the tacky or sassy can also be
great, really bratty and obnoxious. sometime
i mimic these types of experiences with
varying degrees of bluntness.
in Conversation WendyWhiteandJasmineJustice
January 2007
WW:i think you’re doing that successfully…
incorporating existing motifs and letting them
become new and indescribable objects, all
without assigning history to them. i guess it
relates to process more than intent. At least
that’s how it comes across. there’s a familiarity
to some of your combinations, yet it’s vague
enough and slightly disparate enough not
to be nostalgic or homage-like. then there’s
joyfulness and an openness that i think relate
directly to how you apply paint. You’re not
afraid to cover things up and push things into
weird awkward places, but it’s never formulaic.
You don’t really push things the same way
twice. Don’t you think that style is the biggest
life-sucker there is? it’s boring.
JJ: …and exhausting, waiting for certain styles
to go out of fashion! i’m more interested in
disparate variety. i like thinking about whom
i would like to show with, from this time or
a previous one. How far (thousands of years
or a few minutes) can i reach out and hold
the hands or brushes of other painters. i
went to the société Anonyme: modernism
for America show at the Hammer museum
in LA last summer and felt ecstatic to be
wandering around with so many interesting
and unfamiliar ghosts like sophie taeuber-Arp
and Oskar Fischinger. i really love the notion of
channeling, you know—opening up to artists’
spirits, especially if they are female
(who’ve usually been overlooked) and/or
new discoveries to me. For now i’m not
as interested in spending much time in
the same place.
WW: Your paintings are more like individual
battles, like you’ve got a bone to pick with
each one. they’re very personified. Do they
ever seem figurative to you? Or does that
word make your skin crawl...i mean, they’re not
abstract, really...
JJ:“Figurative” can be really repulsive,
depending on how it’s used. Often it’s used
to refer to works that have depictions of
people in them and is pitted against the term
abstraction. Abstraction in this sense doesn’t
even mean abstraction. it means that it isn’t a
straightforward landscape, still life or person
painting. this “pitting against” can really just
distract us from what a work is really about.
they are false categories.
my works can be figurative in the sense that
they relate to different parts of the body. i will
imbue anything with a bodily function. they
aren’t a version or abstraction of anything
that already exists. i guess they are more like
extraction-inventions.
WW: Extracting... that’s such a great way to
look at it. it reminds you why you like things
and gives meaning to reaction, which always
gets the shaft. Channeling is an interesting
word, too... sort of a WWJD kind of thing,
with a slightly voodoo component. i like
that. Earlier, you mentioned being drawn to
patterns. i always get hung up on the idea of
connotations and borrowed history, but your
paintings evade that immediate read.
JJ:And although there is extracting, it’s not
always consciously directed or pre-meditated.
i try to not always be aware of what i’m
channeling, sometimes determining that
when i step away and look at it. it can be
wonderfully surprising. i think reaction
gets the shaft because intuition and less
nameable sources are highly distrusted and
i think reacting often comes from those
places. “Channeling” is a useful term and can
be a powerful experience because it implies
a flattening out of time, where we all exist at
once, on the same plane. i usually don’t try
to evade but i feel it can be really restrictive
to get too mired in a particular moment. But
don’t you think there are influences we can or
should be really brave about having, almost
like a responsibility? We don’t want anything
to be off limits, do we? it’s really important to
question who gets to be the decider.
WW: nothing’s off-limits. i think if you’re
really invested and not naïve about it
everything falls into place. i mean, don’t
you see work all the time that is a hair away
from being totally ridiculous, but somehow
manages to ride the line? it doesn’t matter if it
has discernable cultural relevance or not.
too far in the safe zone is not challenging
enough, and too gratuitously absurd can be
insulting...i guess it comes back to intention
and one’s chosen audience. Choosing to
see yourself as connected to other artists,
throughout history, is a pretty beautiful way to
keep genuine momentum going. i don’t think
real artists regurgitate anyway. they have too
much imagination and compulsion to stay
interested that way.
JJ:i think seeing this connection to other
artists can be an act of love and kindness, a
way of connecting yourself to other people
and celebrating life.
Wendy White is an artist and writer. She lives
and works in New York.
Biography DavidReed
David Reed is a painter. Born in California, he moved to Lower manhattan in 1971, where he
continues to live and work. since 1976, he has been represented in new York by max Protetch
Gallery. His first show in Europe was with Galerie Ricke in Cologne in 1989, and he has also been
showing in Europe with Galerie Xippas in Paris; Galerie Bob van Orsouw in Zürich; and Galerie
schmidt maczollek in Cologne. in 1998, David Reed Paintings: Motion Pictures, a traveling exhibition
and publication was organized by the museum of Contemporary Art, san Diego, CA. Leave Yourself
Behind: Paintings and Special Projects 1967-2005, another traveling exhibition and publication was
organized by the Ulrich museum of Art, Wichita, Ks in 2005.
Biography JasmineJustice
Jasmine Justice was born in 1972 in West Virginia. As a child she moved to Wyoming, idaho, and
Washington and has also lived in Helsinki and istanbul. At age 13 she became involved with the
thriving punk scene of spokane, WA and its visual arts subculture. she then moved to seattle, WA
where she received a BFA in printmaking, from the University of Washington in 1997. two years
later she moved to new York and worked as a printmaker before attending Rutgers University, nJ
where she received an mFA in 2003. she now lives and works in Brooklyn, nY. she participated in
residencies at Painting’s Edge, idyllwild, CA (2003 and 2006) and at the Atlantic Center for the
Arts (ACA), in new smyrna Beach, FL (2006), and has recently been included in group exhibitions
at HiGH EnERGY COnstRUCts in Los Angeles, CA; Domo Gallery in summit, nJ; the Riverside
Art museum in Riverside, CA, and Ziehersmith inc. in new York, nY. Her 2007 show at CUE Art
Foundation marks her first solo exhibition.
mission statement CUEArtFoundation
CUE Art Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization,
is dedicated to providing a comprehensive creative forum for
contemporary art by supporting under-recognized artists via a
multi-faceted mission spanning the realms of gallery exhibitions,
public programming, professional development programs and
arts-in-education. the Foundation was established in June of 2002
with the aim of providing educational programs for young artists
and aspiring art professionals in new York and from around the
country. these programs draw on the unique community of artists,
critics, and educators brought together by the Foundation’s season
of exhibitions, public lectures, workshops, and its studio residency
program: all are designed to be of lasting practical benefit to
aspiring and under-recognized artists. the entire CUE identity is
characterized by artistic quality, independent judgment and the
discovery of genuine talent, and provides long-term benefits both
for creative individuals associated with CUE and the larger art
marketplace. Located in new York’s Chelsea gallery district, CUE’s
4,500 square feet of gallery, studio and office space serves as the
nexus for educational programs and exhibitions conducted by CUE.
BOARDOFDIRECTORS
Gregory Amenoff
theodore s. Berger
Patricia Caesar
thomas G. Devine
thomas K. Y. Hsu
Brian D. starer
ADvISORyCOUNCIl
Gregory Amenoff
William Corbett
Deborah Kass
Kris Kuramitsu
Jonathan Lethem
Lari Pittman
irving sandler
ExECUTIvEDIRECTOR
Jeremy Adams
PROGRAMS
COORDINATOR
Beatrice Wolert-Weese
PROGRAMSASSISTANT
Kara smith
PREPARATOR
Drew Lichtenstein
Cover: Urban Orbs (detail), 2007
Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 16” x 12”
All artwork © Jasmine Justice
Photo credits: Jesse Farber
Catalog designed by Elizabeth Ellis
Printed on triPine paper of Kyesung Paper Group (south Korea)
Cover: triPine Art nouveau 209gsm (78lb), text: triPine silk 157gsm (106lb)
Printer: Yon Art Printing (south Korea)
isBn 13: 978-0-9791843-4-5
isBn 10: 0-9791843-4-7
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