Alex Bag
Encyclopedia
Alex Bag in New York City
is an artist working primarily in video. She currently resides in Glen Ridge
.
and had her first solo exhibition at 303 Gallery only three years after graduating. Her work has been shown at the Gagosian Gallery
, P.S. 1, Tate Gallery
, Centre Georges Pompidou
, Museum of Modern Art
, Philadelphia Museum of Art
, and numerous spaces internationally. She has performed at The Knitting Factory and lectured at Yale University
, Parsons School of Design, Cal Arts, and The Getty Research Institute. In the December 2004 issue of Artforum
, David Rimanelli remarked that “Alex Bag belongs on the Top Ten every year, whatever she does."
Her work is largely influenced by television, which she finds to be "the most awful thing. But I can't stop watching it. It's so expected that that's what your leisure time is supposed to be--that the accepted way to spend your free time is just to be an absorber, a zombie. I feel compelled to talk back--to respond in some way as a human being" (Frankel, David,"TV, or not TV: David Frankel on Alex Bag"). Her father worked in advertising and Bag sometimes visited his sets as a child, which she regarded as "something just as exciting and important as traditional kinds of fine art." Her mother also worked in television as the host of popular children's program The Carol Corbett Show, later renamed The Patchwork Family. Bag appeared on the show at the age of four to interview a monkey.
Though similar to Pop Art
in its appropriation of pop culture and mass media, Bag adds political criticism to her work. "There are so many good things about Pop art, but other things I think are awful. The Pop artists accepted their place and time and allowed themselves to reference the world around them, look at it, be inspired by it, examine it, not be so isolated from it, not be in an ivory tower. But at the same time they limited themselves by being so much about surface gloss. They repeat popular imagery without saying anything, really; it's devoid of politics" (Frankel, David,"TV, or not TV: David Frankel on Alex Bag").
Grants to Artists Award.
student, played by Bag herself. Taking the form of a video diary, Bag's character addresses the camera directly, expressing her thoughts on life and art, which mature significantly over the course of eight semesters. Interspersed between these entries are clips commenting on a variety of topics including male aggression, mockingly portrayed by toys, and video art from the 1970s.
, Bag posed as a series of different characters with bulging orbs for eyes. The frames have built in speakers activated by the viewer squeezing a big pink button. In one photograph, Bag sits on a therapist's couch while the dialogue says "I want to start you immediately on morphine for the hopelessness, Prozac for the dejection and guilt...and Zoloft for the unbearable sense of dread." In another, Bag poses in front of a Blockbuster and discusses the store's promotional use of the word "love."
, and AOL Time Warner. This installation at Elizabeth Dee
Gallery consists of wall collage, framed finished advertisements and video. The wall collage includes Polaroids, drawings of Michael Jackson promoting Monsanto and Rush Limbaugh surrounded by an aura of OxyContin, magic spell recipes in Old English, and tear sheets. A trail of rubber rats leads to the video at the back of the gallery, which shows Bag promoting Chase Bank, AOL, and thong pads along with clips of the Paris Hilton
sex tape.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
is an artist working primarily in video. She currently resides in Glen Ridge
Glen Ridge
Glen Ridge may refer to:* Glen Ridge, Florida, United States* Glen Ridge, New Jersey, United States**Glen Ridge High School...
.
Life and work
Bag received her BFA from Cooper UnionCooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
and had her first solo exhibition at 303 Gallery only three years after graduating. Her work has been shown at the Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. There are currently eleven gallery spaces: three in New York; two in London; one in each of Beverly Hills, Rome, Athens, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Moscow.-1980s:...
, P.S. 1, Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
, and numerous spaces internationally. She has performed at The Knitting Factory and lectured at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Parsons School of Design, Cal Arts, and The Getty Research Institute. In the December 2004 issue of Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
, David Rimanelli remarked that “Alex Bag belongs on the Top Ten every year, whatever she does."
Her work is largely influenced by television, which she finds to be "the most awful thing. But I can't stop watching it. It's so expected that that's what your leisure time is supposed to be--that the accepted way to spend your free time is just to be an absorber, a zombie. I feel compelled to talk back--to respond in some way as a human being" (Frankel, David,"TV, or not TV: David Frankel on Alex Bag"). Her father worked in advertising and Bag sometimes visited his sets as a child, which she regarded as "something just as exciting and important as traditional kinds of fine art." Her mother also worked in television as the host of popular children's program The Carol Corbett Show, later renamed The Patchwork Family. Bag appeared on the show at the age of four to interview a monkey.
Though similar to Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
in its appropriation of pop culture and mass media, Bag adds political criticism to her work. "There are so many good things about Pop art, but other things I think are awful. The Pop artists accepted their place and time and allowed themselves to reference the world around them, look at it, be inspired by it, examine it, not be so isolated from it, not be in an ivory tower. But at the same time they limited themselves by being so much about surface gloss. They repeat popular imagery without saying anything, really; it's devoid of politics" (Frankel, David,"TV, or not TV: David Frankel on Alex Bag").
Grants and awards
In 1995, she was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary ArtsFoundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts , originally known as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City founded by artists Jasper Johns , John Cage, Elaine de Kooning and others in 1963. FCA offers financial support and recognition to contemporary...
Grants to Artists Award.
Fall '95 (1995)
A performance video on art school,Fall '95 documents the fictionalized life of the New York City art school School of Visual ArtsSchool of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
student, played by Bag herself. Taking the form of a video diary, Bag's character addresses the camera directly, expressing her thoughts on life and art, which mature significantly over the course of eight semesters. Interspersed between these entries are clips commenting on a variety of topics including male aggression, mockingly portrayed by toys, and video art from the 1970s.
Untitled (Project for the Andy Warhol Museum) (1996)
Bag recreates the act of channel surfing in this video composed of short segments of ads, self-help shows, soap operas, and news programs recreated by the artist herself.Le Cruel et Curieux Vie du la Salmonellapod (2000)
A collaboration with Ethan Kramer, Le Cruel et Curieux Vie du la Salmonellapod is a nature documentary about an imaginary animal with feathers and tentacles. The animal is shown attacking a terrier and reproducing in upstate New York.The Van (2001)
Installed in a van with leather and fake pink fur interior, this video presents Bag in the roles of three made-up artists as they are driven to the Leroy Leloupe Gallery by its owner. The three discuss their work, their outfits, and career aspirations.Crackup (2002)
In this series of C-printsType C print
Chromogenic color prints are full-color photographic prints made using chromogenic materials and processes. These prints may be produced from an original which is a color negative, slide, or digital image. The chromogenic print process, was nearly synonymous with the 20th century color snapshot...
, Bag posed as a series of different characters with bulging orbs for eyes. The frames have built in speakers activated by the viewer squeezing a big pink button. In one photograph, Bag sits on a therapist's couch while the dialogue says "I want to start you immediately on morphine for the hopelessness, Prozac for the dejection and guilt...and Zoloft for the unbearable sense of dread." In another, Bag poses in front of a Blockbuster and discusses the store's promotional use of the word "love."
Coven Services for Consumer Mesmerism, Product Sorcery, and the Necromantic Reimagination of Consumption (2004)
Coven Services is Bag's imaginary PR firm and advertising agency, serving clients such as Monsanto Company, BechtelBechtel
Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...
, and AOL Time Warner. This installation at Elizabeth Dee
Elizabeth Dee
Elizabeth Dee is an American gallery owner and art dealer. She owns the Elizabeth Dee Gallery on West 20th Street in New York City and she represents many popular contemporary artists, such as Josephine Meckseper and Adrian Piper. She has helped produce many of Trecartin’s movies, such as I-BE...
Gallery consists of wall collage, framed finished advertisements and video. The wall collage includes Polaroids, drawings of Michael Jackson promoting Monsanto and Rush Limbaugh surrounded by an aura of OxyContin, magic spell recipes in Old English, and tear sheets. A trail of rubber rats leads to the video at the back of the gallery, which shows Bag promoting Chase Bank, AOL, and thong pads along with clips of the Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
sex tape.
Videography
- Untitled (Spring 94), 1994, (28 minutes)
- Untitled (Fall’95), 1995, (57 minutes)
- Artist's Mind, 1996, (22 minutes)
- His Girlfriend is a Robot, 1996, (16 minutes)
- Untitled (project for the Andy Warhol Museum), 1996, (22 minutes)
- Harriet Craig, 1998
- Le Cruel et Curieux Vie Du La Salmonellapod, 2000, with Ethan Kramer
- The Van, 2001
- Coven Services/Demo Reel, 2004