Moldy Figs, Justin Randolph Thompson
Momenta Art
May 22- June 28, 2015
For the exhibition Moldy Figs, Thompson presented a multi-seat shoeshine/merry-go-round platform featuring a community performance, in which the artist gold-leafed participants’ shoes, accompanied with a hybrid music performance incorporating classical and jazz genres. The rotating sculptural installation induced a feeling of infinity, exploring issues of labor and spiritual ascension through repetitive physical movement. The accompanying performance and videos were created in collaboration with composer/jazz saxophonist Jason Thompson, and multi-media artist Bradly Dever Treadaway. According to Jessica Helmes in Artcritical, the piece “sought to undermine the classifications of folk traditions as outdated.”
Justin Randolph Thompson (American, b. 1979) was born in Peekskill, NY. He is currently Professor of Art and Theory at the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute and at Santa Reparta International School of Art, and has lived between Florence Italy and the US since 2001. He has exhibited widely in the US and in Europe, including at Socrates Sculpture Park in LIC, NY.
Press:
Art Critical | NY Art Beat