Careerists and Visionaries

M ARC JA N C O UC O N T E M P O R A R Y

Care erists and Visionaries Care erists and Visionaries

The influence of Jessica Stockholder’s educational and creative philosophy,

which could inadequately be interpreted as “expansionist,” is noticeable in each artist’s work in this exhibition. Jessica sees every artist occupying, and expanding an allotted creative space, an Emersonian notion if there ever was one. In this utopian spirit these works have been selected to high-light each artist’s capacities, curiosities, and strengths as opposed to producing a more tangible whole.

The sculptures of Jo Nigghogosian, Eoin Burke, and Sarah Lassise may seem for-mally figurative, but this is deceptive and inaccurate in describing their work. Their work, disparately, is much more concerned with a more abstract and fundamental idea of an object, its affect on the room , its affect on the artist as they make it, its ability to stand up, to be alone, and to have dignity. A ll of these concerns prefigure any notion of resemblance, but do not exclude them .

Boris Chesakov and Ian Campbell’s work differs in the distance they choose to create from “it” as an entity. Ian’s work is represented here by a series of photo-graphs of his performances. H e does not document these events, these photos are taken by myself and others, and his work exists as a series of anecdotes describing the events between friends; he has agreed to allow these photographs to represent these conversations, and myths about his practice. Boris’ work does not aim towards completion, but rather towards an ongo-ing, endless experimentation of time-based works.

Lourdes Correa-Carlo, Laura Marsh, and myself occupy a personal space, where the meaning of our symbolism , and its refer-ences do not necessarily relate. The craft and formality in the work is specific to our own history, and is an attempt to magnify that history. In Laura’s work it is a menag-erie of accessories including bags, Imovies, and jewelry that produce her totem . With

Lourdes, the politics and image of Puerto Rico is centralized, as is her accent, as the words “Beaches” and “Bitches” are often confused. In my work for the show, I have produced a series of posters that are docu-mentation of my childhood home, these are posters advertising my sensibility, the personal here becomes a diagram for the development of an aesthetic.

Ryan Wolfe’s works are often made to seem invisible, to be assimilated. H ere he has created a series of chair bases, mod-eled after the original Papasan Chair. In order to strip these objects of their casual destiny he has reduced them to their mini-mal design origins. Meredith James’ work swallows space, for like Ryan ’s, it often takes the room itself as a subject; not as installation site, but as space itself to be a subject, easily manipulated, and suited for re-understanding. H er video takes the assumption of a place being there, static, like a living room ready for use, and proves that to be false. Instead these places are

almost always moving, and when she wants to leave, the room becomes an emotional mirror that she literally takes with her.

Our dean, Robert Storr, once instructed us that Yale was not a finishing school for young artists. This sentiment seemed obvi-ous, even sanctimonious at the time, but to a certain extent I hope this show proves his point, and goes further to say that in this time there is nothing that a finishing school could teach us, or nothing it hasn’t tried to teach us that we as a class flatly rejected.

—Jacques VidalCurator of the Exhibition

T , a ll of whom are recent graduates from the Ya le Schoo l of Art Scu lp ture MFA program , was orig ina lly curate d two years ago , by another group of th irte en artists, ten of them stud ents and thre e facu lty memb ers: Joe Scan lan , Daphne F itzpatrick, and the head of the d e partment, Jessica Stockho ld er. The exp erience of th is d e partment and its particu lar conversation has refine d th is show over time by creating the possib ility for it, and by creating the prob lems inherent to it. Careerists and Visionaries g ives space to th is sp ecific moment in time , bring ing tog e ther the varying practices of 10 artists: Eo in Burke , Ian Camp b e ll, Boris C hesakov, Lourd es C orreacarlo , Mere d ith James, Sarah Lassise , Laura Marsh , Jo N igoghossian , Ryan Wo lfe , and Jacques Lou is Vida l, curator of the exh ib ition .


I go to the stud io . Draw, using observation as a launch ing po int, bring my thoughts and the sub ject towards each other, then make scu lp tures that use the drawings and id eas as g eneration po ints.

Too Far in a G ood D irection , 2009

E o in BurkeI qu it, p eace .

Performances, 2008 – 2009

Ian C a m p b e ll


My work shou ld reassociate , shou ld reap preciate , it ’s not time base d b ecause the pro ject doesn’t end , it doesn’t d e p end on time as a system , it uses time as the means to continue . Th is exp eriment is hap p en ing without me start-ing it, I have noth ing to do with it, it exists.

Th is W ill N ot End , 2008

B oris C h esakovTh ink of thre e-d imensiona l ob jects as imag es. – cap ture them in a virtua l space and reconstruct them in rea lity– reconfigure them and flatten the ir h ierarch ies.

Found Keyboard , 2008

Lo urd es C orre a C arlo


Day Sh ift is a fantastic interpre tation of mob ile techno logy and the ab ility of surve illance to turn everyone into a p er-former and aud ience at once . In the vid eo , the camera has the power to corrup t and reconfigure the physica l world it records.

Day Sh ift, 2009

M ere d ith Ja m esXXXXXXXXXX

Untitle d , 2009

Sarah Lassise


My work often critiques the various comp e ting surfaces of consumer languag e through materia l re lationsh ips and juxtapositions. A hang ing bag series slumps from the ce iling as you ascend the sp ira l sta ircase to the up p er ga l-lery. As the viewer observes the askew stuffe d forms, one notices a d irect p lay on materia l languag e as one surface attemp ts to overpower and a lter the next.

Save , Save , Save , 2009

Laura M arshIn a sense , I exp lo it the power and h istory of the materia l concre te to propose scu lp ture as a process of re gu lation and vio lation of h id d en systems. To me , it ’s essentia l to bu ild up a forma l structure that d emands recogn ition of its p ermanence and d esignation , to make it as ‘form less’ as possib le to e p itom ize d isturbances and weakness. The forms are in process of b e ing bu ild up at the same time as broken down .

Untitle d , 2009

Jo N ig o g h ossian


My scu lp tures are remad e fragments of a papasan cha ir. The d econstructe d form was d erive d by strip p ing the cha ir of parts that invite a p erson to sit, leaving on ly the armature . Through the remaking process I a ltere d various forma l prop erties for the scu lp ture to b ecome a conta ine d un it. In the resu lting form I wante d the work to slip b e-twe en a fragment and a who le but not d istinctly adhere to e ither one .

Thre e Papasan Parts, 2009

Ryan W o lfexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

C ’est Ca Houston!, 2009

Jacq u es Lo uis Vi d al


Ian C a m p b e llPerformances, 2008 - 2009PhotographsEach: 8 x 10 .5 inches

E o in BurkeToo Far in a G ood D irection, 2009M D F, basswood , wax, p laster, acrylic wash , acrylic house pa intD imensions variab le

Jo N ig o g h ossianUntitled , 2009Re bar, concre te , leotard , me ta l, wood , p laster, rop e36 x 18 x 9 inches

Ryan W o lfeThree Papasan Parts, 2009Birch3 Parts, each: 24 x 43 .5 x 43 .5 inches

Sarah LassiseUntitled , 2009Mod e ling clay, fabric, pa int32 x 19 x 7 inches

Lo urd es C orre a C arloFound Keyboard , 2008Cast a lum inum17 .75 x 6 .5 x 1 inches

Laura M arshSave , Save , Save , 2009Fabric, found ob jects, bung e e cordsD imensions variab le

B oris C h esakovThis W ill Not End , 2008A larm clocks, water, ste e l fabric b ins47 x 22 .5 x 14 .25 inches

M ere d ith Ja m esDay Shift, 2009Insta llation: m ixe d me d ia Vid eo: 3:12Room: 80 x 80 x 47 .5 inches

Jacq u es Lo uis Vi d alC ’est Ca Houston!, 2009Ste e l, 20 arch iva l prints on pap er38 x 18 .5 inches

Eo in BurkeIan Camp b e ll

Boris ChesakovLourd es C orrea Carlo

Mere d ith JamesSarah LassiseLaura Marsh

Jo N ig ghogosianRyan Wo lfe

Jacques Lou is Vida lPhotography by Cary Wh ittier

Pub lishe d on occasion of the exh ib ition , C are erists an d Visionaries,

at Marc Jancou C ontemporary, August 7th – Se p temb er 3rd , 2009 .

M arc Janco u C o nte m p oraryGreat Jones A lley

N ew York, N ew York 10012www.marcjancou .com

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Careerists and Visionaries