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Emily Mast

Emily MastArtist’s Statement

I make performances and ephemeral installations that incorporate bodies, movement, sound and idiosyncratic experience to exhibit uncertainty as live sculptural material. At the heart of my practice is a distrust of the ideal of truth, which manifests itself through collaborations in which the co-construction of knowledge is key. By working with a diverse range of people in a very personal way, we are able to create our own truths through collective experience. I am therefore continually redefining notions of authorship while affirming my role as an artist.

Currently, I am working with a stuntman, a stutterer, a sign-language interpreter, an actor, an auctioneer, a dancer and a child on a piece that examines the imprecision of language and the myriad ways it can be delivered, understood and misunderstood.

My practice exists across and between disciplines. I attach myself to writing, theater, choreography, sociology, psychology and education and use them as tools in the rich territory of art. Every encounter results in the creation of a physical and visual lexicon that is unique to the particular exchanges experienced. This insistence on communication and human interaction results in volatile works that aim to provoke real rather than symbolic consequences.

Website: emilymast.com

Biography

Select Performances from 2009-2012

2012
Never It’s Now Or, Mains d’Oeuvres, Paris, France
B!RDBRA!N, Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, The Blackbox, Los Angeles

2011
Offending The Audience, The Velaslavasay Panorama Theater, Los Angeles
We Play Nothing, REDCAT, Los Angeles

Select Solo Exhibition

2010
It will never be known how this has to be told, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles

Select Group Exhibitions from 2008-2011

2011
Muse ‘Til Midnight, LACMA, Los Angeles
Art In The Parking Space, LAX Art, Los Angeles

2008
Strange Ranger, Circus Gallery, Los Angeles

Fellowships, Awards and Residencies

2012
Headlands Center For The Arts, Sausalito, Calif.

2011
Modern Painters, 100 Artists to Watch

2010
Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

2009
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

EDUCATION

M.F.A, 2009
University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles

2006
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture

B.A., 1998
Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.