Jonathan Horowitz

For his second show, Jonathan Horowitz takes the eternal city as his subject. Rome, as the keystone of western civilisation, becomes for Horowitz an all encompassing imaginary construct; the embodiment of the ideal society, the epitome of decadent society. By extension he considers its status as the model for totalitarian and democratic governments, from Napoleon to the US founding fathers, from Mussolini to Hitler. The exhibition centres on a new video, which weaves strands from documentaries about ancient Rome, Mussolini and the making of the movie Ben Hur, considered the greatest achievement of Hollywood epic cinema. Working across a variety of media, focusing on the iconic forms of antiquity - pillar, arch, idealized human form and concentrating on the overwhelming spectacle that defines the ‘Fascist style’, Horowitz questions its proximity to more generic trends in popular culture.

For his first show at Sadie Coles HQ, Jonathan Horowitz presents Pillow Talk.
The installation centres around the video work It’s Magic/Acting the Part: the Biographies of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. On two separate monitors the life stories of these two film icons run parallel, each one freezing to accommodate the other. Horowitz appropriates footage from television biographies of the stars’ lives, focusing on their final television reunion, when Rock appeared as the first guest on Doris’s talk show on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Suffering from dementia caused by HIV related illness, Rock showed up at the studio in a shockingly haggard state. Rock had not yet revealed his condition to Doris or the rest of the public, but when images from the recording were broadcast around the world, Rock was forced to acknowledge that he had AIDS.

With this admission the heterosexual, macho image Rock had maintained throughout his life was instantaneously shattered. As the footage demonstrates, his life and career would become a footnote to his homosexuality and death. In contrast, as portrayed in the Doris Day biography, the adversity that Doris experienced in her personal life served to reinforce her professional accomplishments and make her character more sympathetic.

In It’s Magic/Acting the Part, Jonathan Horowitz explores the peculiar balance between the public and private lives of stars of the small and large screens. In an age in which viewers believe they know intimately the actors they are watching, television becomes the only vehicle through which these actors can communicate with each other and perhaps even themselves.

Extending his focus from the romantic fiction of the Rock and Doris partnership, Horowitz examines the weird world of the celebrity couple. A mattress lies on a plinth in the gallery, on which rest two pillows silk-screened with the names of an improbable romantic pairing. On the walls above are photographs of over 100 sets of pillows, each bearing the names, in different typefaces, of more odd-ball partnerships: Dumb and Dumber; Leverne and Shirley; Liza and David; Ben and Jerry. Horowitz highlights the pivotal role romantic couples play in popular culture and assesses the way this has forced people, and in particular gay people, to identify with the most unlikely characters. Horowitz employs video to deliver a sharp critique of the socio-political manipulation of television and the impact it has on our lives.

Jonathan Horowitz was born in New York and continues to live and work there.  Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Greene Naftali in New York (2002) and at Kunsthalle St. Gallen in Switzerland (2001) and group shows in the U.S.A. and Europe, including at the Kunstverein Hamburg (2002) and The Americans at the Barbican Art Centre in London (2001).

1966 Born in New York City
B.A. Philosophy, Wesleyan University, Connecticut

Solo Exhibitions
2006 Rome, Sadie Coles HQ, London
2005 The New Communism, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
Silent Movie, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York
2004 Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin
2003 Jonathan Horowitz/Silent Movie/MATRIX 151, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, (CT)
Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
Surreal Estate, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York (with Rob Pruitt)
Buero Friedrich, Berlin
2002 Go Vegan! Greene Naftali, New York
Pillow Talk, Sadie Coles HQ, London
2001 Time, Life, People: Jonathan Horowitz at Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
We the People, China Art Objects, Los Angeles (CA)
Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
In Person, Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies,
Annandale-on-Hudson (NY)
2000 The Jonathan Horowitz Show, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
the Universal calendar / talking without thinking, Van Laere Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium
1999 Project Room, Van Laere Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium
Project Space, Ten in One Gallery, Chicago (IL)
1998 Maxell, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Bach Two Part Invention #9, Kenny Schachter/Rove, New York
Personal Cinema Program, Millennium, New York

Group Exhibitions
2006 The Wonderful Fund: Art for the New Millenium 2000 – 2005, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK.
The Eighth Square: Gender, Life, and Desire in the Visual Arts Since 1960, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany (curated by Kasper Konig and Frank Wagner) (cat)
Into Me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY; Kunstwerk, Berlin, (curated by Klaus Biesenbach)
Down by Law, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (curated by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, and Ali Subotnick) (cat)
Modern Times, Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro, Italy (curated by Maria Rosa Sossai) (cat)
Gay Art Now, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York (curated by Jack Pierson)
Object of Desire / The Kate Moss Show, Museum of Photography, Amsterdam
Survivor, Bortolami Dayan Gallery, New York, (curated by David Rimanelli)
Take One, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (curated by Domenick Ammirati)
The Fact, Abstract, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Long Island City, New York (curated by Claire Barliant)
2005 Realit;-)t. 30 Video Works from the Goetz Collection in Munich. From Olaf Breuning to Sam Taylor-Wood, Seedamm Kulturzentrum, Pfaffikon, Switzerland
Jump Cut Nights, SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany
Museumsnacht, SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany
What’s New Pussycat? Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (cat)
5 ans, Collection Lambert en Avignon, Avignon, France
The Wonderful Fund Collection, La Musée de Marrakech, Morocco (cat)
Log Cabin, Artists Space, New York (curated by Jeffrey Uslip)
Theorema. Une Collection Privee en Italie, la Collection d’Enea Righi, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Superstars: From Warhol to Madonna, Kunsthalle Wien and Kunstforum Wien, Vienna, Austria (cat)
2004 100 Artists See God, ICA, London
Genealogies of Glamour: The Future has a Silver Lining, Migros Museum, fur Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
The Ten Commandments, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden (curated by Klaus Biesenbach)
Drunk vs. Stoned, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise at Passerby, New York (organised by The General Store)
A Fripon, Fripon et Demi- A School for Truants, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Aus acktuellem Anlass, Johann Konig, Berlin
Let the Bullshit Run a Marathon, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York (curated by Nate Lowman)
Marilyn, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
2003 Dust Memories, Swiss Institute, New York (curated by Emmanuel Latreille)
Love, Magazin 4 Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria
Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
Fast Forward: Media Art Sammlung Goetz, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Drop Out, China Art Objects Galleries, Los Angeles
First Person, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada (curated by Kim Simon)
Homeland, The Whitney Independent Study Program, New York
Nation, Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany (curated by Rene Zechlin)
Parle a Mes Peres, Collection Lambert at PhotoEspana, Madrid, Spain
2002 Just Love Me: Post-Feminist Positions of the Nineties, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, travelling to Goetz Collection, Munich, Bergen Art Museum, Germany and Fries Museum Leeuwarden, Germany
The Object Sculpture, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, Great Britain (selected by Tobias Rehberger, Joelle Tuerlinckx and Keith Wislon, curated by Penelope Curtis) (cat)
Tableaux Vivants, Kunsthalle Wien Austria (curated by Sabine Folie and Michael Glasmeier) (cat)
Non-Places, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany (curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen)
Dark Spring, Ursual Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal-Unterowisheim, Germany (curated by Liam Gillick) (cat)
Zusammenhaenge Herstellen, Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany (curated by Yilmaz Dziewor) (cat)
Mensaje De Texto, Galeria Helga De Alvear, Madrid, Spain
2001 4Free, BuroFriedrich, Berlin (curated by Waling Boers) (cat)
Metropolis Now, Borusan Art Gallery, Istanbul
Casino, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (curated by Jeanne Greenberg)
The Americans, Barbican Art Centre, London
Tele(visions, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (curated by Joshua Decter) (cat)
Third Annual Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, Los Angeles (CA)
Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles (CA)
Video Mania, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
The Choice Between Anonymity and Notoriety, 32nd Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France (curated by Eric Mezil)
Site Co-opted, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Desins, Ecole Regionale des Beaux-Arts, Dunkerque, France
Do You Have Time, Liebman Magnan, New York
Pause, Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles (CA)
Fresh: The Altoids Curiosly Strong Collection, 1998-2000, The New Museum, New York
2000 New York Projects, Delfina Project Space, London (curated by Luke Dowd)
Over the Edges, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (curated by Jan Hoet & Giacinto di Pietrantonio)
Pop Unlimited, International Short Film Festival - Special Program,
Oberhausen, Germany
New Work from New York, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville (TN)
Making Tim: Considering time as a material in contemporary film & video, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Palm Beach (FL); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (CA) (curated by Amy Cappellazzo)
Greater New York: New Art in New York Now, P.S. 1/MOMA, New York
Two Friends and So On…,Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (curatorial project by Jonathan Horowitz & Rob Pruitt)
Achieving Failure: Gym Culture 2000, Thread Waxing Space, NewYork (curated by Bill Arning)
CAN 303s HEAL? Kiasma, Helsinki (curated by Toby Webster),
Kosmobiologie-12 Artists/12 Zodiac Signs, Bellwether, New York (curated by Nancy Chaikin),
Trailer, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Full Serve, presented by mixed greens & Kenny Shachter/Rove, New York
1999 Zeitwenden - The Outlook, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Wien, Vienna
Regarding Beauty in Performance and Media Arts, 1967-1998; Program III- Icons of Beauty, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Exit, Chisenhale, London (curated by Alison Gingeras),
Interplay, Contemporary Museum of Art, Tucson (AZ) (curated by Caitlin Masley),
A Place Called Lovely (curated by Sima Familant),
Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Persuasion: Tales of Commerce and the Avant-garde, University of Buffalo Art Gallery/Research Center in Art + Culture, Buffalo (NY)
The Opening, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium
New York Neither/Nor, Grand Arts, Kansas City (MO) (curated by Bill Arning),
Compromising Situations, Galerie Montenay-Giroux, Paris (curated by Muriel Colin-Barrand)
Conceptual Art as Neurobiological Praxis, Thread Waxing Space, New York (curated by Warren Neidich),
Free Coke, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
1998 Invited Exhibition of Visual Art 1998, Limerick City Gallery of Art,
Limerick, Ireland
Oriental Nights, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
Group Show, The Fifth International, New York (curated by Jennifer Bornstein and Chivas Clem)
Biovoid, Museum of Natural History, Lisbon
Tune In, Lawing Gallery, Houston (TX)
Superfreaks: Post Pop & the New Generation - Part I: Trash, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Cambio, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City and Sandra Gering Gallery, New York (curated by Kenny Schachter)
1997 Bring Your Own Walkman, Achterzaal, Amsterdam (curated by Jack Jaeger)
Thriller, 303 Gallery, New York (curated by Tom Borgese)
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Video Flash, Hohenthal und Bergen Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Screentest, Hotel 17 performance series, 192 Third Avenue, New York
1996 Password: Ferdydurke, Postmasters Gallery, New York
The Strange Power of Cheap Sentiment, White Columns, New York (curated by Bill Arning)
Shit, Baron/Boisante Gallery, New York
Facing the Millennium, Arlington Museum of Art, Arlington (TX) (curated by K. Schacter) (cat.)
Sex and Drugs and Explosives, London Artforms Gallery, London (curated by K. Schachter)
1995 Gang Warfare, Independent Art Space, London; McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas (TX); The Consortium, Dijon, France (curated by Michael Corris) (cat.)
Looky Loo, Sculpture Center, New York (cat.) (curated by K. Schachter),
1994 Personal Cinema Program, Millennium, New York
Played, Printed Matter, New York (curated by K. Schachter),
1993 Arts Festival of Atlanta, Atlanta (GA) (cat.)
1992 Morality Café, Postmasters Gallery, New York (curated by K. Schachter)
1991 Unlearning, 142 Greene Street, New York,
1989 Document and Dream, Artists Space, New York

Public Collections
Altoids Curiously Strong Collection - New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Frankfurt Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt
Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Museum of Modern Art, New York
S.M.A.K, Ghent, Belgium