Casey Kaplan
Jason Dodge
Casey Kaplan
By Lauren O’Neill-Butler
Critics of Jason Dodge’s sparse exhibitions over the past decade have frequently cited and relied upon the “narratives” and “poetry” bodied forth by his unassuming, enigmatically undated objects. Yet these oft-repeated terms have seemed increasingly facile in the face of his expansive output, with its sometimes radical testing of belief, fictions, and facts. Of the works in his recent New York show, take, for example, The mayor is sleeping. The mayor of Nuremberg is sleeping., a pillow the artist asserts has been slept on only by the mayor of Nuremberg. This backstory is fanciful, yes, but serves as more than just a ploy to pique the viewer’s attention.
This show “We are the meeting.” partially coincided with “What we have done.,” the artist’s first comprehensive exhibition in North America at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. There, visitors could have gleaned from the accompanying checklist or catalogue that the random bits of hay and grass and the lingering barnyard smell in a spacious gallery were left over from several animals that had briefly occupied the space without an audience (The living), or that the plastic-wrapped bed sheets on the floor in another room were rotated weekly by a hotel-linen service (Anyone).
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