Jeanine Oleson
Artist Jeanin Oleson’s interdisciplinary approach incorporates photography, performance, video, and installation. Engaging in dialogue with contemporary societal topics, Oleson’s works challenge political and cultural norms. In a four-month residency with the New Museum in 2014, Oleson produced an exhibition, public programs, workshops, a publication, and an experimental opera, posing questions such as: How can we attune ourselves to each other? Where is the agency in language? What does it really mean to listen? Investigating language, it’s challenges and it’s potential, the artist addresses topics like the collective psyche of apocalyptic anxiety, spiritual rituals, the global environmental crisis, homophobia, racism, and classism. With wit, informed research, and a sense of humor, Oleson’s work has a critical yet optimistic eye toward pressing issues of contemporary life.
Oleson has exhibited and performed at venues such as Exit Art in New York, Beta Local in San Juan, Puerto Rico, X-Initiative in New York, Grand Arts in Kansas City, MO, Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, Diverseworks in Houston, L.A.C.E. in Los Angeles, Monya Rowe Gallery in New York, Samson Projects in Boston, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, John Connelly Presents in New York, Bates College Museum of Art in Main, …
Artist Jeanin Oleson’s interdisciplinary approach incorporates photography, performance, video, and installation. Engaging in dialogue with contemporary societal topics, Oleson’s works challenge political and cultural norms. In a four-month residency with the New Museum in 2014, Oleson produced an exhibition, public programs, workshops, a publication, and an experimental opera, posing questions such as: How can we attune ourselves to each other? Where is the agency in language? What does it really mean to listen? Investigating language, it’s challenges and it’s potential, the artist addresses topics like the collective psyche of apocalyptic anxiety, spiritual rituals, the global environmental crisis, homophobia, racism, and classism. With wit, informed research, and a sense of humor, Oleson’s work has a critical yet optimistic eye toward pressing issues of contemporary life.
Oleson has exhibited and performed at venues such as Exit Art in New York, Beta Local in San Juan, Puerto Rico, X-Initiative in New York, Grand Arts in Kansas City, MO, Socrates Sculpture Park in New York, Diverseworks in Houston, L.A.C.E. in Los Angeles, Monya Rowe Gallery in New York, Samson Projects in Boston, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, John Connelly Presents in New York, Bates College Museum of Art in Main, Kansas City Museum of Art, Participant, Inc. in NY, MoMA P.S.1, Santa Fe Art Institute, Pumphouse Gallery in London, White Columns in New York, and Art in General in New York. Oleson has received a Franklin Furnace Fellowship and a Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant in 2009; a Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Regrant (2008 and 2009); and a Professional Development Fellowship, College Art Association (1999–2000); and was in residence at Smack Mellon Studio Program, NY. She also published two books about performance projects in 2012, “What?” and “The Greater New York Smudge Cleanse.” Oleson is an Assistant Professor of Photography in the Department of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons the New School for Design.
