Justin Cooper
Middle Management
Starring: Reed Barrow, Benjamin Bellas, Justin Cooper, Clinton King
exhibition dates January 6 - February 4, 2006
opening Friday, January 6 6-9pm
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
8pm Friday, January 6, "The Party"
5pm Saturday, January 14 “The Appointment”
5pm Saturday, January 21 “The Board Meeting”
5pm Saturday, January 28 “The Merger”
Through performance, video and sculpture, Justin Cooper (American b. 1976,
lives Chicago) explores the issue of balance exhibited in the power dynamics
of interpersonal relationships, the struggle for growth, and the simply
absurd workings of the human psyche. Cooper experiments with his body,
behavior and sculptural objects to create work that conveys our constant
state of flux. Weaving seemingly disparate gestures and objects together
to construct loose, experimental narratives and tentative installations,
he captures the fleeting states of mind and being.
Middle Management showcases four distinct personalities whose relationships
gradually weave into a narrative fabric over the course of four performances.
The dynamics between the personalities range from complete ignorance to
passionate conflict: love, hate, and indifference are often acted out
simultaneously. Each personality provides a window into a psycho-emotional
state, a fragment of a whole that is moving toward an integrative union.
Middle Management is an account of this process. The exhibition consists
of 4 distinct performances “The Party” Jan 6th, “The
Appointment” Jan 14th, “The Board Meeting” Jan 21st,
and “The Merger” Jan 28th starring Cooper along with Reed
Barrow, Benjamin Bellas, and Clinton King. Cooper’s sculptural objects
and photographs act as props for the performances and as an installation
throughout the run of the exhibition. New objects and photos will be introduced
weekly in relation to each performance.
Justin Cooper graduated in 2005 from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago with MFA in sculpture, performance, and video. He received his
BFA from the University of Colorado in 2003. This will be Cooper’s
first solo exhibition, but his work has been included in a number of group
shows in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles,
and Zochimol Mexico. Cooper was 1 of 20 artists included in the 2003 Colorado
Biennial curated by Cydney Payton at the Denver Museum of Contemporary
Art.
Check out Justin Cooper's website: www.nessiecoop.com
"The Party"