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jasmine justice

Jasmine Justice

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Jasmine Justice exhibition catalogue

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Page 1: Jasmine Justice

511 west 25th street, new york, ny 10001

www.cueartfoundation.org

2006–2007 jas m i n e j u st i c e

Page 2: Jasmine Justice

CUE Art Foundation

April 26 – June 2, 2007

CuratedbyDavidReed

JAsminE JUst i CE

LEAD sPOnsOR OF 2006-07 sEAsOn OF EXHiBitiOn CAtALOGUEs:

KYESUNG PAPER GROUP (SOUTH KOREA)

ADDitiOnAL sUPPORt PROViDED BY

ELIZABETH FIRESTONE GRAHAM FOUNDATION

THIS ExHIBITION IS SUPPORTED IN PART BY ??

We are honored and grateful to present this exhibition generously curated by David Reed. For the

CUE solo exhibition series, mr. Reed has chosen fellow artist, Jasmine Justice, who lives and works

in new York. ms. Justice is admired by her peers as an artist who has forged a unique artistic voice.

Reed’s appreciation of Justice’s work demonstrates just such admiration.

CUE is pleased to recognize that this is ms. Justice’s first solo exhibition in new

York. mr. Reed and we, together, celebrate this effort and wish her a future of fulfillment and success.

Foreword

Page 3: Jasmine Justice

Diamonds are…

(Big Rock Candy)

i first saw Jasmine Justice’s work when i was a visiting artist at Rutgers (Fancy). i liked the

rough physicality and materiality of her paintings (Plus or Minus). i especially remember seeing

a green painting that had been worked over many times (Chloro-fill) and a sheet of glass leaning

against the wall with clotted, dripping yellow paint (Grape Crush)—a piece that was hard to

call a painting (Grit). We spoke during that first meeting about ’70s experimental abstraction

(Seventies Secretion).

i like the way the physicality of her paintings can turn into an image (Urban Orbs), a doubling that

never seems possible, even as one sees it (Hovercrop). Looking at the paintings for this show, this

doubling reminds me of Gilles Deleuze’s description of crystal-form as a kind of form in which the

actual and virtual images are so united one can no longer distinguish which is which (Recycled

(Kiss)). in Jasmine’s paintings this crystal-form is complicated again by being both figurative and

abstract (Calamity Jane).

Her paintings are very theatrical (Skirt). As proof, she is very good with titles (Busypark). i wish

that i could think of such excellent titles for my paintings (Headlights).

Her paintings seem to have a story behind them (Savior (Isis Painting)). What stories do they

make with their doublings and combinations (Blushing Bride)? Why do we want to follow these

stories (Painter’s Tears)?

David Reed, January 23, 2007

Curator's statement DavidReed

i don’t ever want to know what a piece will look like until it’s finished. i make art to develop new

mental avenues and experience them in the physical realm, exploring and meditating upon

unknowns, thinking and making as simultaneously as possible.

i’ll get a strong feeling about a very particular shade of green and a compulsion to

put it into play. As the piece progresses i hold loosely to green’s role, its dominance fluctuating. if it

escapes i might not notice immediately. it might lead to recognizable imagery, or not. incidents are

allowed to remain at the brink of clarity or finish. the early stages of mental emergence are worth

appreciating. i have a fondness for these blunt yet malleable syntactical units, which conversely

arouse my appetite for lavish, painterly activity.

Artist's statement JasmineJustice

Page 4: Jasmine Justice

ConjoinedTwins, 2006Oil on canvas, 28" x 22"

GrapeCrush, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 24" x 24"

Page 5: Jasmine Justice

Nestle, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 16" x 12"

Headlights, 2006Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"

Page 6: Jasmine Justice

Skirt, 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 48" x 46"

BigRockCandy, 2006Acrylic on canvas, 44" x 42"

Page 7: Jasmine Justice

UrbanOrbs, 2007Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 16" x 12"

Fancy, 2007Flashe, acrylic and oil on canvas, 18" x 18"

Page 8: Jasmine Justice

Savior(IsisPainting), 2006Acrylic and oil on canvas, 36" x 36"

Recycled(Kiss), 2007Acrylic and oil on canvas, 48" x 48"

Headlights, 2006Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 18" x 18"

Page 9: Jasmine Justice

PlusorMinus, 2007Acrylic and Flashe on canvas, 16" x 12"

WendyWhite: in many of your paintings–for

example, the large one called Recycled (Kiss)

–there are dueling “compartments” in which

you attack separate but linked formal issues.

You tend to show the different possibilities

for a line, a shape, or a combination of things,

rather than delineating one independent

solution. When you’re painting, are you

presenting yourself with problems, resolving

them, and moving on... or is your process

largely intuitive?

JasmineJustice: i don’t usually start off with

a specific plan. Usually it’s more of a scenario

that i’m curious about. i try to have a studio

practice that will provide me with a wide range

of experiences. i like contrasting the qualities

or circumstances inside paintings against one

another. Often i feel compelled to create a

counter situation or alternative reality as a sort

of antidote to an arising circumstance within

a piece.

WW: so how do you decide where to stop? Do

you sometimes finish a painting (or problem)

within another painting?

JJ:it can be really hard to stop. if i don’t know

where to go with something i put it away for

a while, in some cases for months. sometimes

a really simple painting takes a long time to

finish. i’m not sure if it’s like this for you, but

when things are going well i get so excited

about where i’m going that i can hardly

contain myself enough to finish it.

WW:Oh yeah, definitely. sometimes

finishing feels hollow to me... like, why

bother just to make something look a certain

way when you’ve conceptually moved on

already? But that said, your paintings have

an unencumbered-ness to them... i think

somehow you’re managing to finish them

without adding any “finishing touches” – that’s

the best part. Are you conscious of that? Are

you ever trying to reconcile “decorative” or

“painterly” aspects?

JJ: i try to be really aware of what point they

might become bogged down or hermetically

sealed. i like to leave things open ended,

sometimes really rough or sketchy. some of

my strongest visual experiences have come

from looking at highly ornate mosques, Hindu

temples. And i love Art nouveau poster

borders and other decorated or densely

patterned surfaces, especially those indicating

otherworldly devotion. Patterning that

approaches the tacky or sassy can also be

great, really bratty and obnoxious. sometime

i mimic these types of experiences with

varying degrees of bluntness.

in Conversation WendyWhiteandJasmineJustice

January 2007

Page 10: Jasmine Justice

WW:i think you’re doing that successfully…

incorporating existing motifs and letting them

become new and indescribable objects, all

without assigning history to them. i guess it

relates to process more than intent. At least

that’s how it comes across. there’s a familiarity

to some of your combinations, yet it’s vague

enough and slightly disparate enough not

to be nostalgic or homage-like. then there’s

joyfulness and an openness that i think relate

directly to how you apply paint. You’re not

afraid to cover things up and push things into

weird awkward places, but it’s never formulaic.

You don’t really push things the same way

twice. Don’t you think that style is the biggest

life-sucker there is? it’s boring.

JJ: …and exhausting, waiting for certain styles

to go out of fashion! i’m more interested in

disparate variety. i like thinking about whom

i would like to show with, from this time or

a previous one. How far (thousands of years

or a few minutes) can i reach out and hold

the hands or brushes of other painters. i

went to the société Anonyme: modernism

for America show at the Hammer museum

in LA last summer and felt ecstatic to be

wandering around with so many interesting

and unfamiliar ghosts like sophie taeuber-Arp

and Oskar Fischinger. i really love the notion of

channeling, you know—opening up to artists’

spirits, especially if they are female

(who’ve usually been overlooked) and/or

new discoveries to me. For now i’m not

as interested in spending much time in

the same place.

WW: Your paintings are more like individual

battles, like you’ve got a bone to pick with

each one. they’re very personified. Do they

ever seem figurative to you? Or does that

word make your skin crawl...i mean, they’re not

abstract, really...

JJ:“Figurative” can be really repulsive,

depending on how it’s used. Often it’s used

to refer to works that have depictions of

people in them and is pitted against the term

abstraction. Abstraction in this sense doesn’t

even mean abstraction. it means that it isn’t a

straightforward landscape, still life or person

painting. this “pitting against” can really just

distract us from what a work is really about.

they are false categories.

my works can be figurative in the sense that

they relate to different parts of the body. i will

imbue anything with a bodily function. they

aren’t a version or abstraction of anything

that already exists. i guess they are more like

extraction-inventions.

WW: Extracting... that’s such a great way to

look at it. it reminds you why you like things

and gives meaning to reaction, which always

gets the shaft. Channeling is an interesting

word, too... sort of a WWJD kind of thing,

with a slightly voodoo component. i like

that. Earlier, you mentioned being drawn to

patterns. i always get hung up on the idea of

connotations and borrowed history, but your

paintings evade that immediate read.

JJ:And although there is extracting, it’s not

always consciously directed or pre-meditated.

i try to not always be aware of what i’m

channeling, sometimes determining that

when i step away and look at it. it can be

wonderfully surprising. i think reaction

gets the shaft because intuition and less

nameable sources are highly distrusted and

i think reacting often comes from those

places. “Channeling” is a useful term and can

be a powerful experience because it implies

a flattening out of time, where we all exist at

once, on the same plane. i usually don’t try

to evade but i feel it can be really restrictive

to get too mired in a particular moment. But

don’t you think there are influences we can or

should be really brave about having, almost

like a responsibility? We don’t want anything

to be off limits, do we? it’s really important to

question who gets to be the decider.

WW: nothing’s off-limits. i think if you’re

really invested and not naïve about it

everything falls into place. i mean, don’t

you see work all the time that is a hair away

from being totally ridiculous, but somehow

manages to ride the line? it doesn’t matter if it

has discernable cultural relevance or not.

too far in the safe zone is not challenging

enough, and too gratuitously absurd can be

insulting...i guess it comes back to intention

and one’s chosen audience. Choosing to

see yourself as connected to other artists,

throughout history, is a pretty beautiful way to

keep genuine momentum going. i don’t think

real artists regurgitate anyway. they have too

much imagination and compulsion to stay

interested that way.

JJ:i think seeing this connection to other

artists can be an act of love and kindness, a

way of connecting yourself to other people

and celebrating life.

Wendy White is an artist and writer. She lives

and works in New York.

Page 11: Jasmine Justice

Biography DavidReed

David Reed is a painter. Born in California, he moved to Lower manhattan in 1971, where he

continues to live and work. since 1976, he has been represented in new York by max Protetch

Gallery. His first show in Europe was with Galerie Ricke in Cologne in 1989, and he has also been

showing in Europe with Galerie Xippas in Paris; Galerie Bob van Orsouw in Zürich; and Galerie

schmidt maczollek in Cologne. in 1998, David Reed Paintings: Motion Pictures, a traveling exhibition

and publication was organized by the museum of Contemporary Art, san Diego, CA. Leave Yourself

Behind: Paintings and Special Projects 1967-2005, another traveling exhibition and publication was

organized by the Ulrich museum of Art, Wichita, Ks in 2005.

Biography JasmineJustice

Jasmine Justice was born in 1972 in West Virginia. As a child she moved to Wyoming, idaho, and

Washington and has also lived in Helsinki and istanbul. At age 13 she became involved with the

thriving punk scene of spokane, WA and its visual arts subculture. she then moved to seattle, WA

where she received a BFA in printmaking, from the University of Washington in 1997. two years

later she moved to new York and worked as a printmaker before attending Rutgers University, nJ

where she received an mFA in 2003. she now lives and works in Brooklyn, nY. she participated in

residencies at Painting’s Edge, idyllwild, CA (2003 and 2006) and at the Atlantic Center for the

Arts (ACA), in new smyrna Beach, FL (2006), and has recently been included in group exhibitions

at HiGH EnERGY COnstRUCts in Los Angeles, CA; Domo Gallery in summit, nJ; the Riverside

Art museum in Riverside, CA, and Ziehersmith inc. in new York, nY. Her 2007 show at CUE Art

Foundation marks her first solo exhibition.

Page 12: Jasmine Justice

mission statement CUEArtFoundation

CUE Art Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization,

is dedicated to providing a comprehensive creative forum for

contemporary art by supporting under-recognized artists via a

multi-faceted mission spanning the realms of gallery exhibitions,

public programming, professional development programs and

arts-in-education. the Foundation was established in June of 2002

with the aim of providing educational programs for young artists

and aspiring art professionals in new York and from around the

country. these programs draw on the unique community of artists,

critics, and educators brought together by the Foundation’s season

of exhibitions, public lectures, workshops, and its studio residency

program: all are designed to be of lasting practical benefit to

aspiring and under-recognized artists. the entire CUE identity is

characterized by artistic quality, independent judgment and the

discovery of genuine talent, and provides long-term benefits both

for creative individuals associated with CUE and the larger art

marketplace. Located in new York’s Chelsea gallery district, CUE’s

4,500 square feet of gallery, studio and office space serves as the

nexus for educational programs and exhibitions conducted by CUE.

BOARDOFDIRECTORS

Gregory Amenoff

theodore s. Berger

Patricia Caesar

thomas G. Devine

thomas K. Y. Hsu

Brian D. starer

ADvISORyCOUNCIl

Gregory Amenoff

William Corbett

Deborah Kass

Kris Kuramitsu

Jonathan Lethem

Lari Pittman

irving sandler

ExECUTIvEDIRECTOR

Jeremy Adams

PROGRAMS

COORDINATOR

Beatrice Wolert-Weese

PROGRAMSASSISTANT

Kara smith

PREPARATOR

Drew Lichtenstein

Cover: Urban Orbs (detail), 2007

Flashe and acrylic on canvas, 16” x 12”

All artwork © Jasmine Justice

Photo credits: Jesse Farber

Catalog designed by Elizabeth Ellis

Printed on triPine paper of Kyesung Paper Group (south Korea)

Cover: triPine Art nouveau 209gsm (78lb), text: triPine silk 157gsm (106lb)

Printer: Yon Art Printing (south Korea)

isBn 13: 978-0-9791843-4-5

isBn 10: 0-9791843-4-7