Monday, July 1, 2013

New Location!

I've moved my news page to:

http://jademactownsend.tumblr.com/

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Jade Townsend at Volta New York

Gallery Poulsen will be a part of this year’s edition of Volta New York March 7-10th, 2013, where we present Jade Townsend (US) Solo.

VOLTA NY is an invitational show of emerging solo artists’ projects and the American incarnation of the successful young fair founded in Basel in 2005. VOLTA NY was created in 2008 by Artistic Director Amanda Coulson as a tightly-focused, boutique event that is a place for discovery, a showcase for relevant art contemporary positions regardless of the artist's or gallery’s age.

82 Mercer St, NYC
March 7-10

For more information: http://ny.voltashow.com/index.php

"Old Hat" graphite, charcoal, prisma color, oil and ink on paper, 122 x 69 cm, 2013

With Jade Townsend’s artwork, one is captivated by his universe and his cross-aesthetic practice, ranging from beautiful detail-oriented drawings to large theatrical installations. His installations engage the viewer to become part of what he builds in various exhibition spaces with a fascinating result. With the drawings, entire worlds and universes are constructed and presented to us. Jade Townsend's artworks have a universal nerve to them that transcend cultures, as he applies a universal visual language known from our earliest memories in literature and history. There is a use of materials and historical imagery that animates his artworks, with a handcrafted expression that cause us to be captivated by them. His works are loaded with timber, ships, kings, hobos, death, tarot cards and mysticism and they are keen to illuminate our existing systems and question their limitations and their flaws.

Please visit Gallery Poulsen.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Tarot Series 6 & 7

Tarot Series.

Roughly 13"x22"

Graphite, charcoal, prisma color, oil and ink on paper

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes.. Round 2

I'm posting a couple of links to higher resolution images of Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes and A War Of All Against All. Two large scale drawings by William Powhida and Jade Townsend exhibited at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, Denmark from September 28th through October 27th.

HERE
and
HERE

A print edition of Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes will be available through the artists’ galleries very soon.

Enjoy!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Tarot Series 4 and 5

The latest two from the Tarot Series.

Roughly 13"x 22"

Graphite, prisma color, oil pastel and ink on paper.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

bellum omnium contra omnes

William Powhida and I have a collaborative exhibition opening at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen on Friday September 28, 2012. The work and press release are below...

9'2"x 5' graphite on paper

34"x45" graphite on paper

45"x 34" graphite on paper

Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes

Det er med stor glæde og forventning, at jeg har inviteret de to New York-baserede kunstnere Jade Townsend (1977) og William Powhida (1976) til at udstille i mit galleri fra 28. september – 27. oktober 2012. Det er første gang de to kunstnere udstiller på en fælles udstilling her i Danmark.

Townshend og Powhida mødtes under uddannelse og har i kortere og længere perioder siden år 2000 samarbejdet om forskellige kunstneriske projekter. Deres samarbejde bunder i en forståelse for hinandens arbejde og deres fælles projekter skyldes som regel deres ofte intense samtaler og diskussioner om aktuelle emner og kunstverdenen i særdeleshed. Kunstnerne finder samtalerne fascinerende og deres tegninger er et forsøg på at give det stærke engagement og interessen et visuelt udtryk, tegningerne er en måde at dele deres spørgsmål og bekymringer med publikum.

Townsend og Powhida vakte en del opsigt med deres fælles kunstværk Hooverville fra 2010, da de med stor detaljerigdom, opfindsomhed og viden fortolkede Art Basel Miami Beach messen humoristisk og kritisk, da de portrætterede gallerister, kuratorer og kunstnere, der deltager i denne årlige begivenhed, som en slumby beboet af kunstmessens aktører.

Alle kunstværker i udstillingen på Galleri Poulsen er fælles tegninger. Hovedværket Bellum Omnium contra Omnes (oversat fra latin, "en krig af alle mod alle") er en gigantisk tegning, som det har taget måneder at udføre. Motivet er en slagmark, som den ville se ud, hvis den postmoderne kunstverden var en sådan. Kunstnerne er inspireret af hollandske krigsillustrationer fra det 16. århundrede og skildrer den moderne kunstverden, som en kontinuerlig kamp mellem forskellige lejre, der hver drives af deres egen indre logik. Med sarkasme som deres våben, har kunstnerne skabt deres egne kategorier, definitioner og diagrammer, der beskriver deres personlige følelser om de stridende parter i kunstverdenen. Disse er ifølge kunstnerne, ikke defineret ved deres forskellighed, men ved deres relative og overlappende positioner inden for kunstverdenen og hvordan vi alle er en del af en større helhed. Townsend og Powhida anvender historie, myte, allegori og stil til at forestille sig den moderne kunstverden, som et mærkeligt og ukendt territorium og resultatet er imponerende.

Ifølge Townsend og Powhida er de "i høj grad en del af det system, som vi kritiserer. Vi vil dog understrege, at vi ikke blot dømmer, men også tilbyder en kritisk analyse af de konkurrerende systemer, som vi selv er en del af. Satire er det værktøj vi bruger til at punktere samtidskunstens selvhøjtidelighed, samtidig med at vi gør indholdet tilgængeligt for beskueren."

»I denne udstilling forsøger vi at undersøge vores virkelighed, vi fortolker den ved at bruge humor og derved skabe en dialog. Vi har ikke svarene. Vi tror ikke, at der findes et endegyldigt svar. Det vi forsøger at gøre med vores værker, er at nedbryde kompleksiteten i de systemer vi er omgivet af og finde en måde, der vil tilskynde beskueren til at engagere sig og sætte spørgsmålstegn ved det vi præsenterer dem for. ”

For Gallery Poulsen er det vigtig at vise udstillingen Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes her i Danmark. De to udstillende kunstnere, der kommer fra et af verdens epicentrene for samtidskunst, er optaget af aktuelle emner og de har skabt kunstværker, der tilbyder et nyt perspektiv, kunstværker der er reflekterende og som forholder sig kritisk til vores fælles virkelighed og vores opfattelser af denne.

Bellum Omnium Contra Omnes

It is with great joy and anticipation, I have invited the two New York-based artists Jade Townsend (1977) and William Powhida (1976) to show in my gallery from the 28th September - 27th October, 2012. It is the first time the two artists exhibit in a joint exhibition here in Denmark.

Townsend and Powhida met in in graduate school and have since 2000 been doing collaborative projects on/off. They have an appreciation for each others work and their joint projects usually stem from their often intense conversations and discussions about the current state of affairs and the art world. They have found those conversations to be fascinating, and their drawings are an attempt to translate that deep interest to an audience and drawing is a way to share their questions and concerns in an engaging way beyond talking.

Townsend and Powhida caused quite a stir with their joint artwork Hooverville from 2010, when they in great detail, ingenuity and knowledge interpreted the Art Basel Miami Beach fair humorously and critically, as they portrayed the gallery owners, curators and artists participating in this annual event as a shanty town.

All of the artworks in the show at Gallery Poulsen are collaborative drawings. Bellum Omnium contra Omnes (translated from Latin, "a war of all against all") the main artwork, is a gigantic drawing, months underway that depicts a battleground, as it would look if the postmodern art world was ever a such. The artists are inspired by Dutch War illustrations from the 16th century and portray the contemporary art world as a continuous struggle between different camps, each one driven by their own internal logic. With sarcasm as their weapon the artists have created their own categories, definitions and diagrams describing their personal feelings about the conflicting parties in the arts. These are defined in artists optic not by their separateness, but by their relative and overlapping positions in the art world and how everyone is part of a larger whole. Townsend and Powhida apply history, myth, allegory and style to imagine the contemporary art world as both a strange and unfamiliar territory with an impressive result.

According to the artists they 'are very much a part of the system that we are critiquing. We would say, however, that we are not just passing judgments, but offer a critical analysis of the competing systems that we are a part of. Satire happens to be a tool that we find useful in that process to deflate some of the self-importance of contemporary art and make the content accessible.'

'In this show we are really trying to identify what exists, understand it, poke a little fun at it and create a dialogue about the current state of affairs. We don't have the answers. We don't think there are answers to this. I think what we are trying to do is break down the complexities of the system or systems that exist in a way that will encourage the viewer to find themselves within that and identify and question where there tastes or values lie.'

For Gallery Poulsen this is an important exhibition to show here in Denmark. It is important to show the current state of affairs from one of the epicenter’s of contemporary art and show works that may offer a new perspective to our perception of art and artworks that are reflective and relate critically to our age and reality and our perceptions of it.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Art in the Age of Political Absurdity

I'm very excited to be a part of this show and get the chance to show Hooray for Progress for the first time in New York City. For a preview of the piece installed at the McNay Museum in San Antonio, click here:

144 West 14th Street

New York, NY 10011

Monday - Saturday

11am to 6pm

Thursday until 8pm

Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 27, 6−8 PM

On View:
September 28−November 10, 2012

Guest Curators:

Eleanor Heartney and Larry Litt

Just in time for election season, "Party Headquarters: Art in the Age of Political Absurdity" updates the grand tradition of political satire to shine a light on the American psyche in an era of political polarization. Works in a range of media take on the pressing questions of the day, among them the social consequences of greed, the corrosive effects of money and religion in politics, the contradictory aspirations embodied by the American Dream, and the destructive outcome of unquestioning faith in American exceptionalism. With wit, satire, and passion, the artists in this show urge us to acknowledge both the strengths and the follies of contemporary America and ask if we are living up to our own best beliefs.

Artists:

Donna Catanzaro

Enrique Chagoya

Michael D'Antuono

Sally Edelstein

Jerry Kearns

Ian Laughlin

Kara Maria

Greta Pratt

Duke Riley

Peter Saul

Federico Solmi

Jade Townsend

Mark Wagner

Martin Wilner

In conjunction with the exhibition, a New York Mobile Voter Registration Center designed by artist Duke Riley (M.F.A '08) will tour the streets of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.

Our fifth annual Pratt Falls political caberet, produced by Larry Litt, will take place in the gallery on October 16, October 30 and November 6 at 7pm.

Please visit www.pratt.edu/exhibitions for more information.

Image credits (left to right): Michael D'Antuono, American Pie, 2010, oil on canvas, 42 x 46 inches; Greta Pratt, "Rodney Parker", from the series Liberty Wavers, 2010-2012, photographic installation, 22 x 28 inches.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Tarot Series

Busy Summer.
Powhida and I are currently producing work for a collaborative show at Gallery Poulsen for late September. I have also begun a series of small drawings based on the Tarot deck. Below are the first 3 of that series.

Roughly 10"x 20"

Graphite, charcoal, prisma color, oil pastel and ink on paper.

More to come...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Leviathan Installation Views

Leviathan is open at Lesley Heller Workspace (54 Orchard St) until May 25th. Go check it out! And thanks to everyone who made it out in the storm on opening night!

For press release and thank yous, scroll to bottom of entry

For drawing images and details, see former blog posts here, here, here and here.

Installation photos by Kitty Joe Sainte-Marie:

bumper sticker by the amazing Allison Hester

Jade Townsend’s new body of work, Leviathan, assembles an absurd and fragmented narrative. As told by an amalgam of outcasts – the rebel, the orphan, the mystic – a coalescing set of stories manifests as a sculptural passageway through which to pass and return. Similar to his past mixed media sculptures and installations that critique and intensify tragic sociopolitical realities, Leviathan layers multiple myths and allegories, along with their archetypal characters, to pursue the conflicting destinations of contentment and rebellion. Whether or not such a goal is achievable is of little concern. Rather, as Townsend has continued exorcise in his work, it is the failure to see what is given up as we seek what we wish to gain. “Now, from this peculiar sideway position of the whale's eyes, it is plain that he can never see an object which is exactly ahead, no more than he can one exactly astern.” Moby Dick In Townsend’s account, the inevitable blind spot of futile pursuits is reified in the gallery as an abandoned commercial box truck. Entered through the rear of its empty corpus and delivered to the decapitated head, the everyday Leviathan is simultaneously the whale and the ship that sought its demise. As it lies in state, the delivery truck serves as a prop of triumph and defeat. Surrounded by drawn imagery of misguided rebels, reckless strivers and their delusional conquests and superstitions, the gutted beast foretells their fate. Unable to see what is in front of them, the vision-impaired Ahab, Sisyphus, and the tarot reader mingle together, each interrupting the others’ tales of implacable affliction and curse.

Jade Townsend lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Recent shows include 'New Image Sculpture' at the McNay Museum in San Antonio, TX and 'Drawn to You' at Gallery Poulsen in Copenhagen, DK. He is currently working on a collaborative exhibition with William Powhida in Denmark.

A very special thank you to:

Lesley Heller and John Baber at Lesley Heller Workspace

Eric Patton

James Case Leal

David Petersen

Michael Petersen and Arthur Gandy at All Sorts Inc.

Duke Riley

William Powhida

Lisa Schroeder

Lynn Sullivan

Allison Hester

Kitty Joe Sainte-Marie