Artist Statement:
The fulcrum of my work derives from literary conventions and their
manipulation into visual puns that serve to re-present a wider range of
associations to society. The aim is not only to expose the vulnerability of
language but to show how it may be re-constructed in a way that evokes
people to participate with a more objective dispatch to the world around
them.
My work is a fusion of traditional form and new media. It references art
history with critical humor and acknowledges the visual component as the
carrier of content and functions well into the dictum of painting and
sculpture while loosening the seams of classicism. It sustains
responsiveness to the moment that is more akin to promote doubt and
instability in the psychological main frame we use to “figure things out”
rather than endorse its own authenticity. My art retains a hybrid between
“Houdini, (ism),” and Court Jester strategies that involve the mechanics to
induce an aesthetically/conceptual provocative state.
Alexander Viscio
www.alexanderviscio.com
usa, +347 261 7194
aut, +43 699 1159 6031
Alexander Viscio
Dirty word as a thought bubble 2008 Light box, 70 x 50 x 7cm.
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Works on Glass Glass, bio-degradable materials and other detritus are used to express the precarious role language plays in the attempt to define content and gain orientation to one's environment.
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Bad Plumbing 2008 Light Box 70 x 40 cm.
Enamel paint and glass with light fixture and wood frame recessed behind glass.
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Road Kill of a Disco Ball 2007 1691 pieces of mirrored glass on a flat piece of wood. Diameter around 73 cm.
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Floor Plans for Dirty Words The floor plans are down loaded from real estate web sites selling high-end residencies in the USA. They are then modified to fit the perimeter of a giving word. Each word has been formatted to a personalised font.
Inside "Turk" 2007 Proposal
In March 2009, I will place my body inside "Turk" and have charcoal poured over me. A live video feed from Vienna will be down loaded from the internet in New Haven CT. and projected in human scale on one of the walls in the exhibition space.
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"Bomb" 2007 Laminated birch plywood. 30 x 90 x 20 cm.
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Performances & Installations
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Poster
The next 11 images: "Satellites, Outposts and a Ridiculous Leap of Faith" A collaborative project with Bettina Schulke. At the MAK, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna. Febuary, 21st, and LUME, Center for New Media and Design, Helsinki, 2006.
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Sobriety Test 2001 C-print, 35 x 40 cm.
Video-still from, "Vehicles for Another Landscape" Director/Camera: Michal Kosakowski.
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Education:
1983 California Inst. of the Arts, MFA.
1981 Kansas City Art Institute, BFA.
Teaching:
1989-93 Jersey City State College, 3D-Design.
Awards:
2007 Federal Assistance Grant, US Embassy, Austria.
2007 Austrian Cultural Forum, NYC.
2002 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, New York City, N.Y.
2002 Franklin Furnace, New York City, N.Y.
2000 Pollock/Krasner Foundation, New York City, N.Y.
1999 Artist in Residence, Austrian Chancellery, Vienna, Austria.
1994-95 Artist Fellowship, New Jersey Council on the Arts, Jersey City, N.J.
Curatorial projects:
2007 Through the Night Softly, Nestroyhof, Vienna, AUT
1994-99 R-Town(s). Brooklyn, NY.
Selected solo shows:
2008 Floor Plans for Dirty Words, Arch-Art Galerie, Linz, Aut.
Work Stations Raton basket with wood frame for the "Outpost" with the "Satellite".
The MAK, Vienna.
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Ascending C-print., 60 x 70 cm.
"Front-man" Herwig Kienzl climbing up to attach the safety line that suspends the "Nomad" and the "Satellite". The MAK, Vienna.
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Building Up 13 meters x 4 m. Diameter.
Bettina Schulke with Herwig Kienzl callibrating the tension of the wire to hold 95 bales of straw onto the frame of the "Outpost". The MAK, Vienna.
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Group shows and Events:
2008
Strange Position Systems, Art Space, New Haven, CT. curator, Caterina Verde
2006
SAL, Satellites, Outposts and a Ridiculous Leap of Faith, LUME Mediakeskus,
Helsinki, Curator, Mauri Via- Kotola.
SAL, Satellites, Outposts and a Ridiculous Leap of Faith MAK, Museum of
Cont./Applied Arts,Vienna, curator, Andreas Kristof.
2004
Vienna Coffee Table, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim, Germany, curator,
Hertbert Hinteregger.
2003
Fussabstreifer, Georg Kargl Galerie, Vienna, AUT.
2002
Day Tripping to the South Fork, SOHO in Ottakring. Vienna, AUT. curator,
Claudia Luenig.
FIAT, Tar-Beach, Vienna, AUT
2001
VAL, Vehicles for Another Landscape, ORF television, Kunst Stücke, Vienna
AUT.
2000
EASY KILLERS and other SOFTWEAR, Edberg Galerie, Family Bernsteiner,
Vienna, AUT.
Kampfzone, (A Sobriety Test), Vienna , AUT. curator: Kunst Büro.
JIFFY, Commerce Street Gallery, Houston, TX. curator: Ramzy Telly.
1998
Hell Raiser, Afflictions of the Central Nervous System, The Kitchen, NYC,
curator: Anne Bonney.
1996
Works from the Permanent Collection, Islip Art Museum, Islip, N.Y.
Can We Talk, Basilico Fine Arts, NYC. Curators: Bloodgood/Friedman.
ATE-BALL, The KITCHEN; N.Y. curator: Katherine Greene.
The LIMON TWINS, Noyes Museum, Oceanville, N.J. curator: Stacy Smith.
1995
BENCH-WARMER, The KITHCHEN, NYC, curator: Katherine Greene.
LIMB to LIMB, The KITHCHEN, NYC, curator: Katherine Greene.
1994
The Definitive Decade, Aljira Gallery, Newark, N.J. curator: Victor Davson.
Hell-Raiser, Mostra d’ Atre Contemporanea, Monte Carrasso, Switzerland.
curator: Stefano Jermini.
A WARM SPOT, Islip Art Museum, Islip, N.Y. curator: Catherine Valenza.
1993
Twisted State, NYC. Curator: primary Projects.
Ebb Tide Shell Gathering, CCA, Martigny, Switzerland. curator: Stefano
Jermini.
Zoo Extract”, Islip Art Museum, Islip, N.Y. curator: Primary Projects.
FERTILE GROUND, Rushmore Outdoor Sculpture Festival, Upstate, N.Y.
curator: Bill Arning.
PRIME CUT, David Zwirner Gallery, water-bar. curator: Erik Oppenheim.
Metro Show, City Without Walls, Newark, N.J. curated by: PPOW NYC.
1992
Essential Structures, Aljira Gallery, Newark, N.J. curator: Karl Hazelwood.
VIEWER MALE, BlumHelman Warehouse, NYC. water-bar curator: Erik
Oppenheim.
THE LIFE OF THE PARTY, Dooley le Cappellaine, NYC. curator: Dooley le
Cappellaine.
Under Thirty, Galery Metropol, Vienna, Austria. curator: Erik Oppenheim.
1986
MR WINTER’S MEAT MARKET WINDOW DISPLAY, Kansas City. Mo.
1985
ARTIST AT YOUR SEVICE; Oak Street Beach, Chicago. Ill.
1983
THE HEAT’S ON, California Inst. of the Arts, Valencia, Ca.
MY POSITION WITH RESPECT TO MY AUDIENCE; Cal Arts, Valencia, Ca.
1981
RECENT FETISHES, Kemper Gallery, Kansas City, Mo. curator: Sheri Lacy.
StandBy "Bratislava
Opera
House",
2006
I would remain on my
back for 3 hours at
the exact "perfect spot" for
tourists to take a picture of
the Opera House.
Stand Bys A StandBy is a critical/supportive reaction in which I insert myself into an artwork/exhibition or public context. At times these actions are spontaneous at other times they are planed with minimal yet essential props to illustrate comment. StandBys are never sponsored and are always executed without sanction.
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Collections:
Bank Austria, AUT.
Sabine Kofler, Vienna, AUT
Freunde der bildenden Kunst, Vienna, AUT.
Georg Kargl Galerie, Vienna, AUT.
Bundeskamzerlamt, Vienna, AUT.
Family Bernsteiner, Vienna, AUT.
Gunter Brodar,Vienna, AUT.
Oliver Stebich, Crozier Fine Arts, New York, N.Y.
Katrin Ridder, SRI International, New York, N.Y.
Dr. James P.D.Lynch, New York, N.Y.
Islip Art Museum, Islip, New York.
Gregory S. Smith/Issacs Fine Art Inc. New Jersey.
Myra Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Mo.
Bibliography:
“FALTER”, ‘Through the Night Softly”, pg. 14, Sept. 20th, 2007
„Superkünstler”, (MAK NITE), Catalogue, Curator, Andreas Kristof. 2004
“PROFIL”, Kunst Sektion , 14-01-03, pg. 129. Wien, AUT.
DER STANDARD, “Sobriety Test”, Sektion 2, pg.2 5/30/2000
NEW YORK TIMES, “A Cocktail with Your Reading”, Section C, 12/24/95
NEW YORK TIMES, The Definitive Decade”, Section C, pg.12, 11/13/94
NEW YORK TIMES, “A Warm Spot”, Section 13, pg.16, 7/24794
NEW YORK TIMES, “Three Wise Men”, Section 13, pg.12, 6/5/94
Schwabsky, Barry. “Twisted State” Catalogue, “Do the Twist”, by, NYC.
1993
Art In America, “Zoo Extracts”, Section 13, pg.12. 5/8/93
THE NEW YORKER, “By Proxy”, pg.10. column 3, 7/20/92
NEW YORK TIMES, “Essential Structures”, Section13, pg.16. 5/24/92
NEW YORK TIMES, “Small Works”, Section C, pg.16, 1/19/92
CHICAGO TRIBUNE; “Pop Art”, “Artist at Your Service”, Front page.
7/14/85
“HIGH PERFORMANCE” magazine. Issue #22, pg.128, 1983
“HIGH PERFORMANCE” magazine. Issue #17, pg.166, 1982
“HIGH PERFORMANCE” magazine. Issue #14, pg.85, 1981
KANSAS CITY STAR, “Audience On Exhibit”, “Plaza Perform. Front pg.
10/4/80
Satellite above Outpost. 2006 60 x 30 cm.
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Sliding in the Outpost
"Nomad", Alexander Viscio enters the "Outpost" wearing the mirrored over-alls that were designed to reflect light in dark cramped spaces. The MAK, Vienna.
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