Artist Statement
My task as an artist is to make sense of the networks of consumed resources, desirable space, labor, and class rooted in urban locations. My practice is the terrain where city segregation, displacement, care, material traces and residue left from everyday objects meets contemporary thinking. I begin a piece where there is a testimony of lived experience and material objects that have traces of everyday life. Guided by thinkers and authors who study urban planning, Black studies, social and cultural studies my intuition directs my material choices.
I create artworks like the piece Carpetbagger, that exist on the floor by cutting, rolling-up and collaging together materials such as used domestic carpets, building concrete, asphalt, paper and chewed gum. My photographs are often sandwiched against, on top of, or next to similar discarded materials and readymade armatures to keep these assemblages afloat against backdrops of the city. The juxtaposition of materials in my work is a reflection of experiencing the gestures of code-switching that positions Black people in urban space for economic survival.
The provisional construction of my images reflect on the psychological depth of living in cities where access to social and material capital is in flux and care of these spaces are questioned. Recently I have situated avatars made of materials found in urban spaces into landscapes that are less densely populated. While onsite I improvise scenarios in which my printed images exist. The series Exteriors points to the collapse and suspension of backdrop and postcard size images onto real landscapes to push the unreliability of the image and what it promises as a space for future usage.
CV
www.jessvaughn.com
EDUCATION
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 2015, Skowhegan, ME
Whitney Independent Study Program 2012-2013, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
University of Pennsylvania 2011, Master of Fine Arts, MFA
Carnegie Mellon University 2006, Bachelor of Humanities and Arts, BHA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Working, Art on Armitage, Chicago, IL 2011
Toppled, University of Maryland Gallery, College Park, MD 2009
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
Made in Woodstock VII, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY
2015
Harlem Postcards, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Say It Back To Me, DiverseWorks (offsite), Houston, TX
3rd Annual AIM Biennale, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
2015 Village Fete, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
2014
Itinerant Belongings, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
2013
Come Together: Surviving Sandy Year 1, Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn, NY
Round 39: Looking Back, Moving Forward, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
ff Presents The Oracle, The Wand, Berlin, DE
Group Exhibition, Whitney Independent Studio Program, New York, NY
2012
Fore, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Do Anything, Double Break Gallery, San Diego, CA
2011
VOX VII, Vox Popuil Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Watchwords, Cauldron Projekts, Birmingham, AL
MFA 2011 Thesis Exhibition, Ice Box, Philadelphia, PA
2010
Rhyming the Antecedent, Addams Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
A-Game, The Park School of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
2009
LATITUDE, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY
AWARDS, GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS & RESIDENCIES
2016
Cole Fellowship Visiting Artist, Wellesley College, Wellesley MA
2015-16
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Workspace Residency, New York, NY
2015
Artist in Residence, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
Artist in the Marketplace, Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, NY
DiverseWorks, Project Grant, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
2014
Center for Photography at Woodstock Residency, Woodstock, NY
2013
Visiting Artist, Project Row House, Houston, TX
2011-2012
Exhibitions/Curatorial Fellowship, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
2010
Kraus Family Foundation Award, WorldStudio AIGA Scholarship
Vermont Studio Center Residency and Full Fellowship, Johnson, VT
2009-2011
University of Pennsylvania Masters of Fine Arts Full Academic Fellowship
2008
Project Grant, Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP)
Women’s Studio Workshop Fellowship, Rosendale, NY
LECTURES
2016
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, Visiting Artist Lecture
2014
Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, Jessica Vaughn in conversation with Karen Beckman, PhD and
Louis Massiah, The Bombing of Osage Avenue
Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY, Artist Lecture
2013
Project Row Houses, Houston, TX, Artist Lecture
2009
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, Exhibition Lecture
2008
Women’s Studio Workshop, Stone Ridge, NY, Artist Lecture Series, Ulster County Community College
Columbia College, Chicago, IL, Studio Lecture Series
PRESS/PUBLICATIONS
Bui, Phong, Flam, Jack. Come Together Surviving Sandy, Year 1. Skira and Dedalus Foundation. 2015.
“Bronx Museum Showcases (and Helps) Emerging Artists.” New York Times, July 10, 2015.
Clocktower Radio, Artist in Residence Interview, May, 2015.
Center for Photography at Woodstock. Artist In Residence Video Interview. February, 2015.
Itinerant Belongings Exhibition Catalog. Cortez, Iggy, Ickes, Charlotte. Slought Foundation. November, 2014
“Project Row Houses at Twenty.” Dennis, Ryan. Studio Museum Magazine. Winter/Spring 2014.
“Project Row Houses: Recovering and Teaching Houston’s History.” Shannon, Chelsea. Golf Coast Magazine. January 17, 2014.
Curatorial Staff. November, 2013. “Jessica Vaughn, Featured Artist.” Sculpture Center Blog.
Russeth, Andrew. May 28, 2013. “9 Things to Do in New York’s Art World Before June 2nd.” Gallerist
Merjian, Ara. Winter, 2013. “Critic’s Pick: Fore.” Artforum.
“Racial Redefinition in Progress. ‘Fore’ at Studio Museum in Harlem.” Cotter, Holland. New York Times. November 30, 2012
Lott, Jessica. November 20, 2012. “Alchemy of Inspiration ‘Fore’ward at The Studio Museum in Harlem.” Art21 Blog.
“An Artist Portfolio. 6 From Fore.” Indrisek, Scott. Modern Painters Magazine. November, 2012
FORE Exhibition Catalog. Haynes, Lauren, Keith J. Naima, Lax, Thomas. Studio Museum in Harlem. November 2012
Toppled Exhibition Catalog. Milad, Jackie. University of Maryland, Union Gallery. October 30, 2009
LATITUDE Exhibition Catalog, Lax, Thomas. Rush Arts Gallery. January 30, 2009
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY