11 W 30 Projects; a new pop up space in NoMad is pleased to announce an inaugural installation by artist Jo Shane. Stray Dogs Make Families; a repeated animal rights assertion heard at Jivamukti Yoga School in the 1990’s forms a cornerstone of thought. What does it mean to be a stray? How do preconceptions shape reality? Comprised of 6 distinct yet thematically interlocking elements, Shane’s installation creates a meditation on the dystopian moment American’s find themselves in : an international rogue entity under the Trump Administration.
Revisiting the political roots of her practice during the AIDS crisis, this new body of work is an amalgam of found, archived and manipulated objects that reference safety, race, reproductive rights, healthcare, wellness, sustainability, nurturing and consumption. Shane places the viewer squarely in the middle of these faceted conversations through the combination of items such as microgreens, pink Himalayan salt, nurse’s scrub fabric, domestic fire escape ladders, a ghostlike Weber Grill cover, a list of post-abortion doctor’s orders, a minuscule bottle of Chanel No.5 perfume, glitter and grow lights.
A monitor displays a loop of Almost Every Piece I’ve Ever Made, cultivating desire without delivering product, a slap in the face of artistic output as luxury commodity. The art is easily referenced, like any other item on the internet, yet it is impossible to buy. Cheery printed fabric suggests an empty hospital gown, simultaneously used to cover what looks like a suspended child’s bed frame. Microgreens inhabit a low, shrine-like space, hovering above the floor. The original installation was seasonally intended yet is still relevant as we find ourselves experiencing wild weather patterns exemplary of human-engendered planetary shifts. The show’s objects reside parallel to reality, conjuring an absent life force. This art does not exist in a vacuum.
Jo Shane, a New York based artist studied at The Whitney Museum Independent Studies Program, Carnegie Mellon University, and Pratt Institute. Exhibitions include, Pera Museum of Art, Istanbul, Turkey; Kunsthalle Fur Bildenkunst, Berlin, Germany; Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle; Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY; White Columns, New York, NY; Lever House, New York, NY; Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY; The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY; and AutoBody, Miami, FL, among others.
