Johannes Girardoni (born 1967) is an Austrian-American sculptor and installation artist who uses digital and analog technology.[3] His work ranges from small, organic objects to large-scale interactive light installations.[4]
Johannes Girardoni | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Austrian-American |
Education | Bowdoin College[2] |
Known for | Sculpture and Installation |
Early life
editGirardoni grew up in a village just outside Vienna and migrated with his family to California in 1982 at the age of fourteen. Between 1985 and 1989 he earned a BA majoring in both History and Art at Bowdoin College in the Maine. During his training at Bowdoin, Girardoni was also a guest artist at the MIT Media Lab.[2]
Work
editExhibitions
editLight Reactive Organic Sculpture
Girardoni began working in two dimensions, eventually moving into the third dimension. His works are an inspiration from hot wax painting previously practiced by Brice Marden and Jasper Johns.[5] He uses a system of formal oppositions.[6]
His inaugural exhibition was held in New York in 1991 after his work was noticed by art curator Friedhelm Mennekes,[7] In 2005, he participated in the Personal Structures at Ludwig Museum, Germany.[8] He also exhibited at the Origins exhibition sponsored by the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, New York.[9]
Refrequenced sculpture
In 2009, Girardoni presented 7 Minutes 20 Seconds, an installation at the Austrian Cultural Forum’ New York exhibition Creative Migration.[10] In 2011, he participated at the 54th Venice Biennale featuring The (Dis)appearance of Everything, an interactive multi-media installation that converts light to sound.[11] The 2013 exhibition titled Off and On at Nye & Brown in Los Angeles, CA, Girardoni featured two interactive installations that transformed light and sound through sensors and Spectro-Sonic refrequencing sound devices that coordinated by an algorithm that converted light waves into sound waves, thereby making light audible.[12]
Girardoni’s 2018 survey exhibition at Levy Gorvy London, titled Sensing Singularity features his work called Metaspace V3, a software-driven installation that evolved with the participants movements. Inside the pod, visitors experienced a borderless space filled with colour, that cycled through the spectrum at different speeds, converting light into ambient sound through sensors in the ceiling; outside the pod a pixelated surveillance video projected the synced colour changes onto the gallery wall.[13]
Other notable work
editThe Infinite Room is a large-scale, site specific sculpture in Washington State.[14] Spectral Bridge is an in-situ sculpture integral to the architecture of Spectral Bridge House in Venice, CA.[15] A book on his work entitled Johannes Girardoni was released in 2007 while his work has also been feature in the 2005 book Personal Structures.[16]
In 2011, he exhibited his minimal work and photographs of billboards, overlaid with obscuring shapes, at the PDX Contemporary Art in Portland, Oregon. In his exhibits, he used a tension between concave and convex angles to create optical illusions, as well as other directional tips to trigger the peripheral vision of the viewer.[17][18] He has also exhibited at the Tomlinson Kong Contemporary in New York City.[19]
Collections
editCollections that include pieces by Girardoni are in Fogg Museum at Harvard University,[1] the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, and the Progressive Art Collection in Cleveland, Ohio.[2]
Awards
editIn 2019, he received the Francis J. Greenburger Award for artists whom the art world knows to be of extraordinary merit but who have not been fully recognized by the public.[20][21]
Reception
editAccording to Klara Stima of Art Magazine, "his early impressions were influenced by the Hungarian landscape".[5] In a 2011 interview, Professor of Art A. LeRoy Greason at Bowdoin spoke of the arc of Girardoni's career that, "it has grown from sculptural wall objects ... to multi-media installations that incorporate sound and light, painting over large-format photos."[22] In 2004, Tracey Hummer of Art in America magazine noted that Girardoni's work has created of "straightforward contrast of materials: the fabricated and the found".[23] In 2006 Lodermeyer described Girardoni's work as "virtually the opposite of minimalism".[24] Grace Glueck of the New York Times described a 2003 exhibition of his as "Minimalist slabs of smooth wax in rich monochromes, contrastingly placed in settings of no-color weathered wood or raw metal".[25] The billboard side of the exhibit was described by Lisa Radon of Art Ltd Magazine as images "layered with digitally created double exposures ... overlaid with screened-back blocks of color and painted forms that echo those of the billboard's outlines, transforming oddball roadside photos into architectural studies in form."[26]
References
edit- ^ a b "Drip Box-Cadmium Yellow Deep, 2004". Harvard Art Museum. Retrieved 6 February 2012.[permanent dead link ]
- ^ a b c "Johannes Girardoni – UNDISCLOSED". Quint Contemporary Art. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
- ^ Karlyn De Jongh & Sarah Gold. "Johannes Girardoni". GlobalArtAffairs Foundation. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Virbrock, Susan. "Telluride Gallery for Art Walk and Original Thinkers!". Tellurideinside.com. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
- ^ a b Klara Stima (May 2005). "Johannes Girardoni". Art Magazine.
- ^ Lodermeyer, Peter. "Personal Structures". No. July–August 2006. Sculpture Magazine. p. 53.
- ^ "Johannes Girardoni". JohannesGirardoni.net. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ "PERSONAL STRUCTURES - 16 artists from 11 countries". Archives at Wayback Machines. Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved April 24, 2005.
- ^ BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO (September 26, 2008). "In Peekskill, 2 Shows of Raw Works". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ "OPEN SPACE UNCURATED 09 AUSTRIAN ARTISTS IN THE US ON CREATIVE MIGRATION" (PDF). Austrian Cultural Forum New York. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Cook, Doug. "Artist Johannes Girardoni '89 in 54th Venice Biennale". Bowdoin Daily Sun. Archived from the original on December 24, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ Whitney, Kathleen. "Los Angeles - Johannes Girardoni: Nye + Brown Gallery". Sculpture Magazine.
- ^ Staff. "Lévy Gorvy opens first solo exhibition of works by Johannes Girardoni in the United Kingdom". Art Daily.
- ^ "Interview of Johannes Girardoni". Matter of Hand. 29 September 2016.
- ^ Webb, Michael. "Spectral Bridge House: Blending art and architecture in an ever-changing Venice spac". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
- ^ "Personal Structures". CornerHouse Books. Archived from the original on 2014-03-10. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
- ^ Special to the Oregonian (May 12, 2011). "Johannes Girardoni's 'Light Matters', at the junction of image and reality, viewing at PDX Contemporary Art". The Oregonian. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Lake, Eva. "Editorial: Features". Visual Art Source.
- ^ "JOHANNES GIRARDONI: Lost-and-Found" (PDF). Tomlinson Kong Contemporary. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ "Francis J. Greenburger Award". artomi.org. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
- ^ Selvin, Claire (15 March 2019). "Art Omi Names Winners of 2019 Francis J. Greenburger Award". ARTnews. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
- ^ "Artist Johannes Girardoni '89 in 54th Venice Biennale". Bowdoin Daily Sun. July 12, 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Tracey Hummer (April 2005). "Stephen Haller Gallery". Art in America.
- ^ Karlyn De Jongh & Sarah Gold (July–August 2006). "Personal Structures: Johannes Girardoni and Nelleke Beltjens". Sculpture Magazine. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ GRACE GLUECK (February 28, 2003). "ART IN REVIEW; Johannes Girardoni". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ^ Lisa Radon (July 2011). "Johannes Girardoni: "Light Matters" at PDX Contemporary Art". Art Ltd Magazine. Retrieved 5 February 2012.