RACHEL HARRISON

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25

Buy tickets

6:30pm at The New School
John Tishman Auditorium / 66 West 12th Street

Rachel Harrison is well known for her conceptual works constructed from combinations of found objects and handmade creations. Employing multiple mediums at once to create forms both abstract and figurative, she presents an array of clues and many layers of meaning in her work. Such was true in her 2007 exhibition "If I Did It" at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York, which was composed of 10 mixed media sculptures and Voyage of the Beagle, a series of photographs. Referencing the ancient menhirs featured in her photographs, Harrison titled her vertical forms after a curious ensemble of notable men, including Johnny Depp, Tiger Woods and Fats Domino, whose forms and varied objects evoked endless associations and connections. The photographic piece, whose title refers to the boat in which Charles Darwin traveled, was hung in a specific sequence and consists of portraits of diverse figures, from prehistoric Corsican sculptures to stuffed animals to Beyoncé Knowles. Prompting a deeper level of thought from viewers, Harrison's work reflects her interest in the act of experiencing an art object and the path that one takes towards comprehension.

Rachel Harrison received her B.A. in Fine Art from Wesleyan University in 1989 and currently lives and works in New York City. She has had recent solo exhibitions at Meyer Kainer Gallery, Vienna (2008); Le Consortium, Dijon (2008); Voyage of the Beagle, migros museum für gegenwartskunst, Zurich and Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg (2007); and If I Did It, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York (2007), and has upcoming solo exhibitions at both the Hessel Museum, Bard College, New York (June through December 2009); and Portikus, Frankfurt am Main (fall 2009). Harrison has also participated in recent group shows including Altermodern: Tate Triennial (2009), the Whitney Biennial, New York (2008); and Unmonumental: Falling to Pieces in the 21st Century at the New Museum, New York (2007).

CHRISTIAN JANKOWSKI

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29

Buy tickets

6:30pm at The New School
John Tishman Auditorium / 66 West 12th Street

German artist Christian Jankowski works in a variety of media including video, installation, performance, photography and sculpture, often confounding reality and fiction, while typically engaging the subjects of his works in the creative process. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with a diverse variety of characters, often humorous, all of whom have appeared in his work. In 1997, Jankowski consulted a therapist about his "creative block", and produced a video piece from the ensuing therapy sessions called Desperately Seeking Artwork. His piece Telemistica was created for the Venice Biennale in 1999 when Jankowski called Italian fortunetellers on their live television shows and asked them questions about his artwork. Their responses and prophesies were video-taped and became the content of the work of art. In these two cases, as in others, the artist's work ends up being about its own creation. Currently, Public Art Fund is presenting Jankowski's Living Sculptures at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park; a trio of life-sized, bronze figures modeled after three professional street performers the artist observed and selected in Barcelona who regularly present themselves as the likenesses of a Roman legionnaire referred to as "Caesar", the revolutionary leader Che Guevara, and an enigmatic woman inspired by Salvador Dali's figure known as "The Anthropomorphic Cabinet Woman." The human scale and figurative representation of the sculptures beckon viewers to come closer, consider whether they are real street performers or statues, pose next to them for photos, and perhaps even leave a few coins in appreciation.

Christian Jankowski was born in 1968 in Göttingen, Germany and lives and works in Berlin and New York. He has shown extensively in the United States and abroad and has had recent solo exhibitions at Regen Projects, Los Angeles (2009); Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart (2009); Galerie Martin Klosterfelde, Berlin (2008); Maccarone, New York (2007); and Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2007). He has also participated in group exhibitions at ICA, Philadelphia (2008); Villa Manin Center for Contemporary Art, Codroipo, Italy (2008); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2008); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2008); and the List Center for the Arts, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2007), among others.

CORY ARCANGEL

WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

Buy tickets

6:30pm at The New School
John Tishman Auditorium / 66 West 12th Street

Media artist Cory Arcangel creates unconventional artwork by hacking, re-purposing, and manipulating various technologies including video games, web software, and digital prints. Arcangel's work showcases elements of beauty and humor within digital applications and equipment, while simultaneously commenting on the role technological media plays in our lives. Best known for his piece Super Mario Clouds (2002), which is composed of an altered version of the Nintendo game's landscape containing only clear blue sky and puffy, white, digitalized clouds, Arcangel's work continues to expand beyond the parameters of video art. Pieces like Permanent Vacation (2007) which consists of two computers programmed to endlessly send each other "out of office" messages until their hard drives crash, demonstrate this expansion. His love of music and background as a trained musician is also paid homage in creations such as The Bruce Springsteen Born to Run Glockenspiel Addendum (2006), where Arcangel added his own glockenspiel component to the five tracks of Born to Run that did not feature the instrument, mixed those tracks back in with the rest of the album, and gave away CD copies of the new version, hoping they would mistakenly find their way into the mainstream. What is also of interest is the unconventional way in which Arcangel distributes his work. In addition to selling and exhibiting his work in galleries and museums, many of his projects are publicly accessible online and he often includes DIY instructions for replicating many of them on his own website.

Cory Arcangel was born in Buffalo, New York in 1978, and lives and works in Brooklyn. He received a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio (2000). He has had recent solo exhibitions at Team Gallery, New York (2008); Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK (2007); and recent performances at the New Museum, New York (2008); and the Sundance Film Festival, Park City (2008). He has upcoming exhibitions at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (December 2009); and Montevideo, Amsterdam (August 2009). His work has been included in countless group shows including Synthetic, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2009); The Possibility of An Island, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2008); and Color Chart, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008), among others.