Wednesday, August 21, 2013

JASON RHOADES @ ICA


September 18 through December 29, 2013

Opening reception: Wednesday, September 18, 6-8pm


Jason Rhoades, Four Roads will be the first major American museum exhibition of the work of this exceptional artist who died in 2006 at the age of 41. Rhoades lived and worked in Los Angeles, however his art has been little seen in the United States until now.

Jason Rhoades, Four Roads will occupy the entire ICA, with four installations to be navigated by four interpretive paths or roads: Jason Rhoades, American ArtistJason the Mason, (a biographical thread named for a childhood nickname); systems (language, scale, indexing, economies), and taboo. By foregrounding these themes, the exhibition aims to open up for investigation Rhoades's spectacular, overloaded installations. Immediately accessible and eye-catching, these works are at the same time deeply systematic, detailed, and rewarding of careful engagement. Using neon, plastic buckets, power tools, snaking wires, figurines, sound, and a vast range of other materials, including a V-8 engine, Rhoades's work brings the viewer in with humor, vibrancy, and the provocative audacity of his vision. The show will be anchored by four major installations: Garage Renovation New York (CHERRY Makita), 1993; The Creation Myth, 1998; Sutter's Mill, 2000; and Untitled (from My Madinah: In pursuit of my ermitage...), 2004/2013.

Jason Rhoades, Four Roads is among the most ambitious exhibitions ICA has ever presented. A catalogue co-published with Delmonico/Prestel will accompany the show, which will tour internationally beginning at the Orange County Museum of Art.