Thursday, June 11, 2009

Joshua Kent
- "I Heart America ..." May 23 2009














photos: Bob Raymond (MAG)


Joshua Kent
"I Heart America and America Hearts me, or How the mighty have fallen"
Sat May 23, 2009: Performance Art



Joshua Kent (Chicago, IL)

"I Heart America and America Hearts me, or How the mighty have fallen"Sat May 23, 2009 - durational performance art March 17, 1993 supermodel Naomi Campbell walked a Vivienne Westwood runway show wearing 10-inch platforms, causing her to not only fall, but also to create a moment that has since become part of a greater runway lexicon.
In May 1974, Joseph Beuys spent three days in a room with a coyote in a performance of his piece, I Like America and America Likes Me. In I Heart America and America Hearts me, or How the mighty have fallen I would like to combine the two events and create a hybrid meditation on politics in regards to; fashion, how we transcribe politics onto our bodies, the politics of our desires, and this complex thing called America.
Joshua Kent was born and raised in the Midwest. He attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003, where he received the Presidential Merit Scholarship for his portfolio. While at SAIC, he became interested in fiber and material studies and explored this area for some time in his undergraduate. Through his process oriented fiber pieces Joshua began to investigate labor in a more intentional way, which lead to his development of a performance practice. Within Performance art, Joshua found he was best able to explore his interests in labor, human interaction and the complexities of identity that he had begun to examine in his earlier work. He is in his last semester at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his work has been in Minneapolis, Southern Illinois, Chicago, and its surrounding suburbs.

Note from the Curator:

In a conversation with Joshua Kent about documentation of his work, he said he preferred photographs to videos because he felt that videos fail to capture the essence of his live performances. For this reason, included are a series of photographs taken by Bob Raymond along with two video clips. I found a lot of humor in his piece and couldn't stop laughing until the very end when things turned suddenly dark and almost unfathomable. Josh's performance far exceeded my expectations and I was honored that he flew in from Chicago to perform his piece. When I asked him why he chose to do so, he said that Mobius is one of few venues where he is able to perform his work.
It is my hope that we, the Mobius Artists Group, will continue to be able to host/present the work of experimental artists in all media.  Videos of this performance were removed on 6/27/2012 by request of the artist.


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