Jeffrey Joyal
Jeffrey Joyal’s work mines undead scraps of Americana in a multifaceted investigation of history, time and authenticity. Dead creatures surge with the same anachronistic animism as the distressed hardware and kitschy Americana that have become standard at farm-to-table restaurants and specialty coffee shops. On display last spring in “The Story of O(OO)” at David Lewis in New York, a preserved crab clutched an electrified wire from its perch atop a weathered barrel filled with dainty baby’s breath flowers. For his 2014 exhibition “All The Food Is Poison” with Valerie Keane at Bed Stuy Affair, Joyal cast a latex death mask of the artist and sometimes-gallerist Jared Madere. After rendering Madere’s face in a lifeless grey rubber, Joyal sent his creation to a theatrical makeup artist who was charged with painting realistic facial features onto the synthetic efgy. If Joyal’s handicraft resides in a demented suburban workshop, then it is just as at home in a basement bar on St. Marks Place or in the common room of a VA senior center.
Born in Boston in 1988, Joyal currently lives and works in New York, where he is represented by David Lewis gallery. In addition to his solo show at David …
Jeffrey Joyal’s work mines undead scraps of Americana in a multifaceted investigation of history, time and authenticity. Dead creatures surge with the same anachronistic animism as the distressed hardware and kitschy Americana that have become standard at farm-to-table restaurants and specialty coffee shops. On display last spring in “The Story of O(OO)” at David Lewis in New York, a preserved crab clutched an electrified wire from its perch atop a weathered barrel filled with dainty baby’s breath flowers. For his 2014 exhibition “All The Food Is Poison” with Valerie Keane at Bed Stuy Affair, Joyal cast a latex death mask of the artist and sometimes-gallerist Jared Madere. After rendering Madere’s face in a lifeless grey rubber, Joyal sent his creation to a theatrical makeup artist who was charged with painting realistic facial features onto the synthetic efgy. If Joyal’s handicraft resides in a demented suburban workshop, then it is just as at home in a basement bar on St. Marks Place or in the common room of a VA senior center.
Born in Boston in 1988, Joyal currently lives and works in New York, where he is represented by David Lewis gallery. In addition to his solo show at David Lewis, he has been featured in group and solo shows across New York at institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Lomex, and Simon Lee, among others.
Text courtesy of Maxwell Smith-Holmes
