Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen and other news

Good things! 

I've started working with Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen and will be in a group show there opening this Friday.  Powhida and I will also be doing a collaborative show there in August/September and we are looking forward to the endeavor.  I have also started working with Lesley Heller Workspace here in New York and am currently in the midst of production for a solo show with her this coming April...   

Oil painting is an invention from the 14th century.  Video art was born in the 1960's,  but to express artistically on paper is a several thousand-year-old tradition.  When working with paper as a medium the artistic creative process is often direct and immediate.  It is a revealing method that shows what the artist is capable of creating with his hand and a piece of paper - right here, right now.  

This exhibition at Gallery Poulsen examines the skills within a group of New York artists.  They are all known as painters who express themselves with color on canvas, but frequently they also explore the wide possibilities of the paper.  Gallery Poulsen is very proud to present great works on paper produced by these prominent names: Michael Bevilacqua, Daniel Davidson, Aaron Johnson, Mi Ju, Erik Parker, William Powhida, Tom Sanford, Alfred Steiner, Jade Townsend, Eric White and Michael Anderson.  

The artists will not be present in Copenhagen during the exhibition, but will be happy to do interviews through Skype.  

Gallery Poulsen and New York.

With Drawn to You - 'Works on Paper from New York' Gallery Poulsen has increased its appetite for the Big Apple and has reserved most of the 2012 exhibition program for New York artists.  United States may no longer be the world's only superpower, but for Gallery Poulsen New York is still the world's most vibrant and creative city.  

Men On The Moon

I will have a piece for sale in the Spread the Word auction and benefit in Los Angeles on December 17th.  You can buy tickets to the event here.  This was a really fun project for a great cause.  All of the artists received a paperback book from Mark Moore Gallery and were asked to make it into an artwork. Here is what I came up with.....  "Men On The Moon":

Outside/Inside (the sun, moon and rocket on the inside move)

Back Cover

Front Cover & Spine

Good things to come...  more updates soon!

Smudge

For the past couple of months I've been collaborating with the good folks at Attic Rep on the set design for their production of Rachel Axler's play Smudge. I'm headed down to San Antonio today for the opening and a couple of artist talks. It's going to be an exciting week! Here are the details and some press links.....

WHERE CONTEMPORARY ART MEETS THEATRE

AtticRep is proud to welcome Jade Townsend back to San Antonio with two special events celebrating his work at the McNay Art Museum and on our production of SMUDGE.

See Express News - Debra Martin

Jade Townsend returns to collaborate with AtticRep's artistic director Roberto Prestigiacomo, production designer Rick Frederick and local visual artists; Jeremiah Teutsch and Emily Barker to reinterpret his installation An Allegory of Taste: Between Here and There for the stage. This work was recently featured in the McNay's New Image Sculpture exhibition currated by Rene Barilleaux.

join the conversation

Artist Talk with Jade Townsend

Meet the artist and learn about his work

Blue Star Contemporary Art Center

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

6:30 - 8:00 PM

This event is free to the public

Matinee Performance and Talk-Back

Come to see SMUDGE and stay to discuss the process of adapting sculpture for the stage.

AtticRep, Attic Theatre, Ruth Taylor Theatre Building, Trinity University Campus, Stadium Drive entrance.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

2:30 PM performance followed by a talk-back

Join us after for a special Happy Hour downtown at theEsquire Tavern

SMUDGE a one-act play by two-time Emmy winner, Rachel Axler is a dark comedy exploring the question: Can love conquer all? A couple struggles with the limits of love and cheesecake in the face of giving birth to a "smudge" instead of the expected child. The dark whimsy of this play fits perfectly with Townsend, whose work explores themes of displacement and allegory. SMUDGE opens August 18th and runs through September 4th, 2011

Performances Thursday, Friday and Saturdays - 8 PM Sundays - 2:30 PM Adults - $20 / Seniors, Military and Seniors - $18 / Students - $10 The Attic theatre seats 70 with no seat more than 10 feet from the stage. All seats are general so reservations or advance purchases of tickets are recommended.

BUY TICKETS NOW

These conversations are brought to you in collaboration with our cultural partners, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center and theMcNay Contemporary Collectors Forum

new drawing

New drawing.

48"x42"

charcoal, graphite, ink, and Prismacolor on tracing paper.

No title yet. Any ideas?

Detail shots below (click on any photo to enlarge)...

the end...

The Dead Horse Inn

For the past 3 weeks we've been helping Duke Riley re-build the Dead Horse Inn. Guests were dropped off on the edge of the Belt parkway and led through the woods to the tavern to partake in drinks for a nickel, steamed mussels, boxing and the usual hijinx. Below are some snapshots of the build-out and set up. Here is what Duke has to say about it:

This is not an art project. Well…not really.

My birthday is this week and it is also the 5th anniversary of the Dead Horse Inn, which will re-open for one night, this Saturday, June 18th, 2011.

HISTORY
From 1891 to 1907, Plumb Island was occupied by a group of homesteaders who set up a series of shacks and tents that eventually developed into bars and inns. Because the island was outside New York City’s jurisdiction, alcohol and tobacco were tax-free. In 1907, the US army was sent by the city to break up the party and evict the homesteaders. The land was then leased to former judge Winfield Overton, who allowed the homesteaders to return shortly after his arrival. The judge quickly declared himself ruler of the island and began organizing boxing matches, which were also illegal in New York at the time. The US military was then called again to “depose the dictator” they had unwittingly installed.
In the 1930s, Robert Moses evicted the last homesteaders, demolished all of the remaining structures, and connected the island to the mainland by a strip of highway and a bridge now known as Exit 9B on the Belt Parkway, turning it into a run-down rest stop with public bathrooms. In recent years, the island’s parking area has become a regular rendezvous for swingers, and the surrounding woods have become a cruising spot for gay men.

MISSION
The Dead Horse Inn is a temporary bar that exists for only one night every five years, providing diversion, libation, and fresh crabs for a nickel. It was built from the excavated ruins of the shantytown that actually occupied the island from 1891 to 1935 and reclaimed flotsam from the surrounding area. It is meant to draw a connection between the current lay of the land and the similarly transgressive spirit of its former inhabitants. Plumb Island has always been a place where people socialize in ways otherwise prohibited in New York City. The human condition unfolds outside prescribed social boundaries, reacting and looking for free spaces, creating culture on the fringe of the city, where the land meets the water.

under the overpass.

before

Matt Crane hauling driftwood

Kitty Joe doing the same.

Dwain Thomas Walters II. Bringing sexy back.

Hans and Tom.

Kitty Joe.

Jess Pinkham, Sully Ross, Annie Evelyn and Miss Joe

The bar.

Duke.

Sunset.

Libations.

Jamie from the B61

Manhattan in the way background.

Jude Hughes.

Sunrise.

so long, farewell and goodbye

Well... yesterday I severed the final tie in my relationship with Priska Juschka Fine Art. Kitty Joe and I filled an 18' box truck with my work and distributed it between the drawing studio and a warehouse in Linden, New Jersey. After more than a year of feeling like I didn't fit with her stable of artists and being frustrated with the relationship, I was seriously considering moving on. Then, after I found out about the gallery's situation with Dana Melamed, I realized that I would be an asshole if I didn't leave. Too shady for my blood, not to mention confirmed suspicions. So... here we are, released from the dead weight and ready to try my hand at being a free agent. It's a good feeling.

If you would like to reach me regarding artworks, projects or general questions please contact me directly at:

Jade Townsend

jademtownsend@gmail.com

64 Diamond Street #2R

Brooklyn, NY 11222

347.235.9570

www.jadetownsend.net (site update coming soon)

www.jadetownsendnews.blogspot.com