February 19th
solo exhibition by Jennifer McCloskey
The show features the artist sitting with her sculptures around an extravagant tea and alcohol party with scones, jams, and cucumber sandwiches whilst people are only allowed to look on from outside the gallery, or from a very limited live stream. This opens a conversation on the role of viewership and audience and the question of purpose for an artist in the high art world who generally makes ‘craft’ art in order to deal with their own trauma.
Sorry You Aren’t Invited is an exhibition that questions the role of the viewership in a gallery setting as well as challenging the idea of kitsch/craft versus high art. It showcases figurative sculpture, textiles, sewing, gardening, upholstery, and other ‘lesser’ art forms. The figurative sculptures spread across different species and mediums. They are inherently me and represent different traumas and gender stigmas that have been placed on me throughout various periods of my life.
The show features the artist sitting with her sculptures around an extravagant tea and alcohol party with scones, jams, and cucumber sandwiches (largely referencing Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh). Whilst people are only allowed to look on from outside the gallery, or from a very limited live stream, opening up a conversation of the role of viewership and audience and the question of purpose for an artist in the high art world who generally makes ‘craft’ art in order to deal with their own trauma.
“My art uses the comfort and nostalgia of kitsch to subvert emotion in a symbiotic space. They exist in their own world, free from proportion and anatomy. I work in a non-linear process and am often intuitively drawn to passive animals for reasons that become clearer as I work or after a piece is done. My creatures include a multihorned cow, titty cats, bunnies, a rat, a bear(?), and a toad that embody subtle discomfort and playfulness. These passive animals are tied to sexuality and femininity as well as sacrifice and victimization, which are reoccurring themes in my work.
These pieces and their ‘pedestals’ toggle between ceramics and fabrics and other multimedia. I handcrafted ottomans, cushions, and a coffee table that acts as a grow table, playing with the ideas of functionality and disfunction. These furniture pieces, plates, and ‘pedestals’ open a conversation on functional art and the ignored labors that are equally artistic. These creatures and furniture are intertwined with dandelions I previously grew, dried, and made into tea. To me kitsch, weeds, and femininity are all intertwined.
Kitsch gets defined as lesser art, weeds are flowers that are defined as less, and that often applies into feminine ideals and experiences. By combining these pieces together, I hope to bring the conversation together and in a visual and physical language. The pieces combined create a living space that uses suburban aesthetics and textiles that will make an equally calming and uncomfortable installation, intended for one person. “
JENNIFER McCLOSKEY is a UF alumni with a BFA in Sculpture. This is her fifth time showing at 4Most gallery but has also shown at other local galleries including — Libby Gallery, University Gallery, Moisturizer Gallery, and the Sl8. She is currently a 3D modeler for FDAAF and a private beta tester under Vethergen. She draws from the aesthetics of kitsch to raise questions about the value of craft and the value of herself in her identity as a woman. Animals, furniture, and planters are created and exist in their own world, rejecting reality and playing with the ideas of function and disfunction, as well as the calming and uncomfortable. She’s influenced by the fantastical, like the Wizard of Oz and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, as well as Alice in Wonderland, because they use world building as a middleman to discuss deep critiques of society. She works in a non-linear process and is often intuitively drawn to passive animals— they are tied to sexuality and femininity, as well as sacrifice and victimization, which are reoccurring themes in her work.
https://www.jennifermccloskey.com
@jenenennifer