Joseph Grigely
The Deaf Artist Reinventing Conversation
The New Yorker
Feb 3 -
Joseph Grigely
Joseph Grigely is an artist and writer whose work addresses questions about the materialization of language and communication, and the ways conversations might be represented in the absence of speech. A collector of inscribed words, documents, and related artifacts, Grigely’s ongoing work, collectively titled Conversations with the Hearing, is concerned with archives and archival practices and how archives might be activated with formal and narrative meaning.
"Some years ago I was sitting in the New York apartment of a friend having tea and a conversation. A large part of our exchange had to do with the senses, and how communication involved a wide array of possibilities outside the norm of what it means to be human. Deep into the conversation, my friend told me a story about a blind baby who had learned to imitate—perfectly—the sound of a refrigerator and the sound of a car going over gravel as it approached the house. After a long pause in which we considered the implications of this, my friend turned to me and said: Beauty is difficult. Never forget that". - Joseph Grigely
Selected Works
Between the Walls and Me
2023
Cast plaster with aggregate and damaged walls
38.1 x 30.4 x 20.3 cm (15 x 11 31⁄32 x 8 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
What the Stress Amounts to
2023
Wine bottle capsules
Variable dimensionsEd. 3 + I AP
Paula’s Birthday Party
1998/2016
Pigment print
149 x 149 cm (58 21⁄32 x 58 21⁄32 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
We Need a Drinking Song
2012
Crystal urethane
60 ⌀172 x 64 cm (23 5⁄8 ⌀128 11⁄32 x 25 3⁄16 inches) ⌀60 cm (⌀23 5⁄8 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Even If You Can’t Hear
2016
Ink and pencil on paper, pins
75.5 x 262 cm (29 23⁄32 x 103 5⁄32 inches)
Untitled Conversations (Mumblebook)
1998
Framed text and seven sheets of paper, pins
Songs Without Words (Garanča)
2020
Digital pigment print on Photo Rag Hahnemühle paper 305 g
99.7 x 83.9 x 4.8 cm (39 1⁄4 x 33 1⁄32 x 1 7⁄8 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Songs Without Words (Julia Bullock)
2020
Digital pigment print on Photo Rag Hahnemühle paper 305 g
99.7 x 83.7 x 4.8 cm (39 1⁄4 x 32 15⁄16 x 1 7⁄8 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Sick Eye: Looking at light - 9 March 2022
2022
Watercolor and pencil on notepad page
14 x 10.8 cm (5 1⁄2 x 4 1⁄4 inches)
Sick Eye: When it happened - 19 March 2022
2022
Watercolor and pencil on notepad page
14 x 10.8 cm (5 1⁄2 x 4 1⁄4 inches)
Bulletin Board I
2010
Pigment print
120.65 x 321.31 cm (47 1⁄2 x 126 1⁄2 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Bulletin Board II
2010
Pigment print
120.65 x 321.31 cm (47 1⁄2 x 126 1⁄2 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Installation
Voilà, 2000
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
Blueberry Surprise, 2019
Marian Goodman Gallery, London
The Information Economy, 2010
New York Art Books Fair at PS1, New York
The Information Economy, 2010
New York Art Books Fair at PS1, New York
EindhovenIstanbul, 2005
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
EindhovenIstanbul, 2005
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
Songs Without Words, 2008
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Erre, 2011
Centre Pompidou, Metz, Paris
News
Exhibitions
Small Talk
MadridMar 17 - May 19, 2018
This is small talk, and for over twenty years small talk has been the subject of Joseph Grigely's art: everyday conversational exchanges that are important not for their grandiosity, but for their quiet understatement.
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Long live the old flesh
BarcelonaMay 19 - Jul 29, 2016
This exhibition is the result of the fifth edition of the NoguerasBlanchard Curatorial Open Call.
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