Plastic bags are the second most common form of litter in the world after cigarette butts. Their degraded status and ubiquitous presence are fascinating to me, attempting to balance between convenience and excess. Quickly used and then discarded, their textured surfaces wear the remains of physical activity like dirty laundry left on the floor. The bags attempt to redress their impoverished status with the addition of colorful embroidery in geometric patterns.” (Josh Blackwell)
BORN 1972
HOMETOWN New Orleans, LA
LIVES AND WORKS Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
MFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, 1999
BA, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1995
BA, Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1995
Working across mediums, Josh Blackwell creates art objects and installations that explore and challenge the purpose and use of everyday, disposable items. Using characteristically bold hues and textured surfaces, he constructs a careful critique of the two-dimensional boundaries of painting in Paper Sweaters (2011). In Plastic Bag as Humble Present (2012), discarded bags are reclaimed and immortalized as works of art, ennobling the objects while simultaneously rendering them functionally useless. Blackwell’s work has been exhibited in numerous institutions, including Museum Bellerive in Zurich and MoMA PS1.
American Art 