Jes Fan

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Xenophoria, 2020

Image courtesy of the artist and Empty Gallery.

Form Begets Function, 2020

Image courtesy of the artist and Empty Gallery.

Function Begets Form, 2020

Image courtesy of the artist and Empty Gallery.

Installation view from 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN

Image courtesy of the artist and 22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

Hand Feeling (still), 2019

Image courtesy of the artist and Empty Gallery.

Installation view from An Opera for Animals.

Image courtesy of the artist and Rockbound Art Museum, Shanghai.

Site of Cleavage, 2019

Image courtesy of the artist.

Installation view from The Socrates Annual 2019

Image courtesy of the artist and Socrates sculpture park.

Installation view from Forget Sorrow Grass: An Archaeology of Feminine Time

Image courtesy of the artist and Times Museum, Guangzhou.

 

Installation view from CAMP FIRES The Body As A Queer Stage

Image courtesy of the artist and UV Estudios.

Systems III, 2018

Image courtesy of the artist

 

Disposed to Add, 2017, performance

Image courtesy of the artist and Vox Populi.

Testo-Soap, 2017

Image courtesy of the artist.

Jes Fan is a Brooklyn-based artist born in Canada and raised in Hong Kong, China. Speculating on the intersection of biology and identity, his trans-disciplinary practice emerges from a sustained inquiry into the concept of otherness as it relates to the materiality of the gendered body. Working primarily in expanded sculpture, Fan often incorporates organic materials – such as soybeans and depo-testosterone into larger assemblages fashioned of welded steel, poured resin, and hand-blown glass. Previous projects such as Hard Body / Soft System (2017) and Testo-Soap (2016) have focused on the bio-politics of transgender identity and the slippery nature of embodiment in an era where HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and less extreme body-modification tactics such as bodybuilding are easily accessible, allowing the subject to mold their external body to match their internal state. Fan’s recent research has explored the complex and porous systems formed between biological agents (including those existing in our own body) and the surrounding environment, seeking to queer the traditional hierarchy between organic and inorganic matter. In 2020, Fan participated in the Sydney Biennale, and his commission is forthcoming in the 2021 Liverpool Biennale.

Education

2014
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) BFA in Glass

Awards

2019
Devra Freelander Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park
Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation
2017
Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant Recipient
Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship, Museum of Arts and Design
Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts
2016
Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship, Wheaton Arts
2014
Award of Excellence, RISD Glass Department
2013
John A. Chironna Fellowship, RISD

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Upcoming
The Kitchen, New York, NY
2018
Mother is a Woman, Empty Gallery, HK
2017
Disposed to Add, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
No Clearance in Niche, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
2016
Ot(her), Sarah Doyle Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI

Biennale

Upcoming
Kathmandu Triennale, Nepal
The Stomach and the Port, 11th Liverpool Biennale, United Kingdom
2020
NIRIN, 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Australia

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020-2021
The Body Electric, Museum of Art and Design, Miami
2019
✧Slow Hand Movements ✧* Gentle Whispers * Water * Salt * Tingles *, Boers-li Gallery, NYC
Forget Sorrow Grass: An Archaeology of Feminine Time, Times Museum, Guangzhou
The Socrates Annual 2019, Socrates sculpture park, NYC
CAMP FIRES THE BODY AS A QUEER STAGE, UV Estudios, Argentina
Kiss My Genders, Hayward Gallery, London
An Opera for Animals, Rockbound Art Museum, Shanghai
An Opera for Animals, Para Site, Hong Kong
In my room”, Antenna Space, Shanghai
no body to talk to, Invisible Exports, NYC
SportCult, Team Gallery, NYC
2018
Paradox: Haptic Body in the Age of AI, Carnegie Mellon University
Raw Design, San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, USA,
2017
Uproot, Smack Mellon, New York, NY
Glass Ceiling, UrbanGlass, New York, NY
Timeshare, Zaha Hadid Building, NY
Set on Freedom, Queens Museum, NY
In Search of Miss Ruthless, Para Site, Hong Kong
From Dada to Tada, Fisher and Parrish, Brooklyn, NY
Threshold, Underdonk Gallery, New York, NY
Stranger Things, Outpost Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Whereabouts, Glazenhuis Museum, Belgium
2014
Material Location, UrbanGlass, New York, NY

Residency

2019-2020
Smack Mellon, NYC, USA
2019
Bemis Center for Arts, NE, USA
Recess Art, NYC USA,
2018
Alfred University, NY, USA
2017
Tyler School of Art, PA, USA
Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
Pioneer Works, NYC, USA

Bibliography

2019
“Kiss My Gender”, Hayward Publishing
2017
“Applied Co-enmeshment”, Ari Larissa Heinrich, Recess Writing Fellowship
“The Artist’s Artists: Lee Relvas”, Artforum, December Issue, print
Intercourse Magazine, Pioneer Works Press, print
JF_selectedpress_2021Mar
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