David Altmejd

Born in 1974, in Montreal, Altmejd earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal.http://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists/david-altmejd David Altmejd Bio Altmejd completed his Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia University in 2001.

Altmejd's sculptures present viewers with an amalgam of organic random objects such as decapitated werewolf heads with graffiti-style Stars of David, towers made of mirrors, plastic flowers and costume jewelry as creative tools for sculptural systems loaded with what he calls "symbolic potential" and "open-ended" narratives.{{sfn|Tippett |2017|p=222}} Altmejd deals with duality in his work, between the contrasts of the beautiful and the grotesque, figurative representation and abstraction, interior and exterior. For Altmejd, there is tension in the dualities of opposites, which is how he creates energy in his work.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzELWmweLFQ |title=Blurring the lines: David Altmejd on his paradoxical art |language=en |access-date=2024-05-13 |via=www.youtube.com}} Werewolf heads appear frequently in his work which in the contemporary art world are widely recognized as being closely recognized with the Canadian creator and visionary. They featured prominently in his 2011 solo exhibition at the Brant Foundation, Art Study Centre, Greenwich, Connecticut, including many other sculpture platforms.{{cite web|last=Bregman|first=Alexandra| url=http://artobserved.com/2012/03/ao-on-site-greenwich-connecticut-david-altmejd-at-the-brant-foundation-through-march-31-2012/|title=AO On Site – Greenwich, Connecticut: David Altmejd at The Brant Foundation through March 31, 2012|date=25 March 2015|work=Art Observed|accessdate=2015-04-12}} Literary figures and popular cultural icons are central to his art and have been seen as in some way resembling the artist, such as Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith, Matthew Barney, Paul McCarthy, Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt and Donald Judd, and novelists and filmmakers, David Cronenberg, Jorge Luis Borges, and Mary Shelley.Jonathan Shaughnessy, Acquisition Proposal for David Altmejd's The Holes, accession #42946, National Gallery of Canada.

Kara L. Rooney writes of his work, The Vessel (2011), the central piece in his March 2011 show at Andrea Rosen Gallery:

{{blockquote|Like Altmejd's figurative giants, 'The Vessel' contains a myriad number of small universes that lodge themselves like secrets in pockets of flesh and plastic. Lengths of fine gold chain, Plasticine hands and ears, shards of mirror and quartz, spools of multi-colored thread, seahorse and insect casts, as well as abstracted references to Avian gods, such as cranes and other airborne creatures, swarm the Plexi castle in a cacophony of frozen movement.{{cite journal|last=Rooney|first=Kara L.|title=David Altmejd|journal=The Brooklyn Rail|date=May 2011}}}}

In 2016, Altmejd designed the art for Yeasayer's album Amen & Goodbye which the band described as "Sgt Pepper meets Hieronymus Bosch meets Dalí meets PeeWee's Playhouse".{{Cite web|url=http://www.transversomedia.com/articles//take-a-bizarre-trip-through-yeasayers-amen-goodbye-album-art-in-new-music-video-for-unnamed-single|title = Take a Bizarre Trip Through Yeasayer's 'Amen & Goodbye' Album Art in New "Prophecy Gun" Music Video| date=10 February 2016 }}

Since graduating with an MFA, Altmejd has taken part in many solo and group exhibitions globally, including numerous exhibitions with galleries that represented his work, Andrea Rosen Gallery, N.Y., and Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London. Altmejd's The Swarm at the Andrea Rosen Gallery received acclaim for its new and nuanced approach to sculpture as supposed to his previous monolithic works.{{Cite journal |last=Forbes |first=Alexander |date=2013 |title=David Altmejd |journal=Artus 2011-2012: The Collector's Edition |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=142–143|doi=10.1386/artus.32.1.142_1 }} In 2003, he participated in the 8th International Istanbul Biennial, Poetic Justice curated by Dan Cameron; in 2004, he was included in the Whitney Biennial of American Art curated by the team composed of Chrissie Illes, Shamim M. Momin and Debra Singer to showcase new art made in America. In addition to these exhibitions, he had a solo exhibition at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, Metamorphosis (2007) curated by Louise Déry and organized as a travelling exhibition to Galérie de l'UQAM, Montreal, QC, Canada, and the Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta University of the Arts, Calgary, Alberta.

In 2007, Altmejd represented Canada at the Venice Biennale; his installation The Index and The Giant, was commissioned by curator, Louise Déry for the Canadian pavilion. The sculpture installation was subsequently purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario,{{cite web|url=http://www.ago.net/receives-canadian-contemporary-sculpture-index-david-altmejd|title=AGO Receives Acclaimed Canadian Contemporary Sculpture|date=20 August 2007|work=Art Gallery of Ontario, Press release|accessdate=2009-06-15}} Toronto, and a second part of the installation was acquired by a private collector in Greece.{{Cite book|title=Seven Days in the Art World|author=Sarah Thornton|date=2 November 2009|author-link=Sarah Thornton|isbn=9780393337129|location=New York|oclc=489232834}}

His work has appeared in major exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2010), the New Museum (2010) and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2010); the Brant Foundation Art Study Center (2011); MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland (2012); Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2015); the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek (2015); the Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d'art moderne Grand- Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2015-2016); and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels (2016). From an early date, his work was featured in contemporary Canadian group exhibitions, Artifice 98 at the Saidye Bronfman Art Center, Montreal (1998), the Québec Triennial at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal (2008); Intrus/Intruders at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City (2008) and many more cultural venues.

His more recent work includes solo exhibitions at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, White Cube in Hong Kong (2019), and the David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles (2021).{{Cite web |title=David Altmejd |url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/David-Altmejd/8DA0F3B556BC4384/Biography }}{{Cite web |title=The Vibrating Man |url=https://www.whitecube.com/gallery-exhibitions/the-vibrating-man |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=White Cube |language=en-GB}} His most recent solo exhibition was Mason's Yard at White Cube, which consisted of portrait heads and busts of fantastical human–animal hybrids. He has also appeared in group exhibitions in The Thick Stream in Canada, New York (2021); Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in Herzliya, Israel (2023); and Guangdong Times Museum in Guangzhou, China.

Altmejd is represented by Xavier Hufkens (since 2005), White Cube (since 2018)Claire Selvin (30 November 2018), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/white-cube-now-represents-david-altmejd-11425/ White Cube Now Represents David Altmejd] ARTnews. and David Kordansky Gallery (since 2020)Nate Freeman (25 September 2020), [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/david-altmejd-studio-visit-2-1910959 Studio Visit: Artist David Altmejd on Cleaning His Studio for a Fresh Start and the Powerful Spiritual Teachings of Eckhart Tolle] Artnet. He previously worked with Andrea Rosen Gallery.Claire Selvin (30 November 2018), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/white-cube-now-represents-david-altmejd-11425/ White Cube Now Represents David Altmejd] ARTnews.Sarah P. Hanson (22 February 2017), [https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/andrea-rosen-to-close-gallery-spaces-in-new-york Andrea Rosen to close gallery spaces in New York] The Art Newspaper.

• 2012: Chaorismatique, David Altmejd, sculpteur (dir. Rénald Bellemare)

{{Reflist|3}}

• Sherer, Daniel. "David Altmejd at Andrea Rosen Gallery: Precarious and Extreme," Whitehot Magazine Feb 16, 2014
• {{cite book |last1=Tippett |first1=Maria |title=Sculpture in Canada |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |date=2017 |url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=tippett%2C%20sculpture%20in%20canada&Ntk=Anywhere |accessdate=2020-08-21}}

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• {{Official website|http://www.davidaltmejd.com|name=David Altmejd : Official website}}
• [http://www.xavierhufkens.com/artists/david-altmejd Xavier Hufkens: David Altmejd]
• [https://whitecube.com/artists/artist/david_altmejd White Cube]
• [http://www.mam.paris.fr/fr/expositions/exposition-david-altmejd Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris: David Altmejd]
• [https://en.louisiana.dk/exhibition/david-altmejd Louisiana Museum of Modern Art: David Altmejd]
• [https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/en/exhibitions/david-altmejd Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium: David Altmejd]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071111054731/http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/david-altmejd-sculptor-and-artist-extraordinaire/art Interview (2007)]
• [http://www.akrylic.com/david-altmejd-21st-century-werewolf-aesthetics/ An Interview with David Altmejd by Randy Gladman from C International Contemporary Art Magazine, Summer 2004.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120208110639/http://lemonhound.blogspot.com/2007/06/david-altmejd.html Venice Biennale (2007): David Altmejd] ry,
• [http://www.glenbow.org/exhibitions/past/2016-2017/david-altmejd-the-vessel/ Glenbow: David Altmejd : The Vessel]

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Category:1974 births

Category:Artists from Montreal

Category:21st-century Canadian sculptors

Category:Canadian male sculptors

Category:21st-century Canadian male artists

Category:Canadian contemporary artists

Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Sculptors from Quebec

Category:Université du Québec à Montréal alumni