Joe Ovelman
{{short description|American artist and author (born 1970)}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| nationality =
| website = {{url|https://www.joeovelman.com}}
| memorials =
| patrons =
| elected =
| awards =
| spouse =
| movement =
| style =
| notable_works =
| known_for =
| alma_mater =
| education =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| name =
| resting_place =
| death_place =
| death_date =
| birth_place = West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1970}}
| birth_name =
| native_name_lang =
| native_name =
| caption = Ovelman in 2019
| alt =
| image_size =
| image = Joe Ovelman Headshot 2019.jpg
| honorific_suffix =
| module =
}}
Joe Ovelman (born 1970 in West Chester, Pennsylvania) is a US contemporary artist and author who works with video, photography, sculpture, installation art, performance art, artist's books, and drawing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2004/04/20/art-19/|title=Art {{!}} The Village Voice|last=Aletti|first=Vince|date=2000-07-11|website=www.villagevoice.com}} His work has featured in several New York City street murals.{{Cite web|url=https://www.towleroad.com/2006/05/joe_ovelmans_ne/|title=Joe Ovelman's New Chelsea Wall|last=Towle|first=Andy|date=2006-05-08|website=Towleroad Gay News|language=en-US}} Ovelman currently lives and works in New York City. He has also lived in Philadelphia,{{Cite web|date=2018-04-27|title=The key to creativity in another man's shirt|url=https://whyy.org/articles/the-key-to-creativity-in-another-mans-shirt/|website=WHYY|language=en-US}} Palm Springs, California, and São Paulo, Brazil.
Career
Ovelman surveys sexuality, social norms, and marginalized communities in his work. He often invites individuals to participate in projects, whether asking them to don his father's United States Marine Corps Uniform on 12th Street Beach in South Beach Miami,{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/robinson/robinson12-6-02.asp|title=artnet.com Magazine Reviews - Maximum Miami|last=Robinson|first=Walter|date=2002-12-06|website=www.artnet.com}} or as recipients of an epic cross-country book-gifting performance, "Boondocking: You I See," 2019. Ovelman's first cited work was an image in The New York Times whose tagline read simply, "Street Art." Ovelman pasted images along the construction wall surrounding Larry Gagosian's Chelsea Gagosian Gallery in a project titled, "Boys 4 Spring," 2000. The project then re-emerged, reimagined, in Richard Anderson's salon exhibition "Living is Easy," in the summer of 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2000/07/11/show-of-shows/|title=Show of Shows {{!}} The Village Voice|last=Aletti|first=Vince|date=2000-07-11|website=www.villagevoice.com}} His NYC solo exhibition, "Like A Virgin," named for Madonna's second LP, was in 2004.{{Cite news|last=Cotter|first=Holland|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/art-in-review-joe-ovelman.html|title=ART IN REVIEW; Joe Ovelman|date=2004-04-30|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Ovelman's 2011 Connersmith exhibition titled, "Coming Home," was a departure from earlier exhibitions in that it was only sculpture.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag12/jun_12/jun12_reviews.shtml|title=June 2012 Sculpture Magazine - Reviews|last=Tanguy|first=Sarah|date=June 2012|website=www.sculpture.org}} Ovelman is also known for Sharpie (marker) drawings on Post-it Notes.{{Cite web|url=https://bbook.com/art/all-about-joe-post-its-politics-drag-art/|title=All About Joe: Post-Its, Politics, & Drag Art {{!}} BlackBook|last=Guha|first=Rohin|date=2008-09-12|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://brooklynrail.org/2007/06/artseen/the-male-gaze|title=The Male Gaze|last=Vartanian|first=Hrag|date=2007-06-07|website=The Brooklyn Rail|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-03}} His notes have expanded beyond the Post-it format in works such as "When I grow up," 2003, "12 Drawings," 2007,{{Cite news|last=Cotter|first=Holland|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/03/arts/design/03chan.html|title=To Explore Race, Sometimes You Focus on the Explorer|date=2007-02-03|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and as artist's books beginning in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theartblog.org/2019/05/live-hard-love-hard-joe-ovelman-talks-about-his-book-on-grief-and-other-topics/|title=Live hard, love hard, Joe Ovelman talks about his book 'On Grief' and other topics|date=2019-05-31|website=Artblog|language=en}} His work is in private collections, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, and in Michael Petry's The Word is Art, (Thames and Hudson), 2018. His photographs also appear on the Arsenal Pulp Press covers of Daniel Allen Cox's book, Shuck, and Terry Goldie's, queersexlife.{{Cite book|last=Goldie|first=Terry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LK02DwAAQBAJ&dq=joe+ovelman&pg=PT3|title=queersexlife: Autobiographical Notes on Sexuality, Gender & Identity|date=2008-05-01|publisher=arsenal pulp press|isbn=978-1-55152-277-7|language=en}} In 2024, Ovelman participated in curator Patrick Burton's Detroit queer biennial exhibition, Mighty Real Queer Detroit, exhibiting work at three venues: Scarab Club, The Carr Center, and Wayne State University's Elaine L. Jacob gallery.{{Cite web |last=Bullock |first=Michael |date=2024-06-07 |title=An Anti-Corporate, DIY Spirit Uplifts New Queer Art Biennial |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/a-diy-spirit-uplifts-detroits-queer-art-biennial-2498039 |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}
Artist's books
- Pictures and Words, (Volume 6), (S.T.H. Editions), 2018.
- Destination Wedding, (Two Cover Color Options in The Beverly Hills Hotel Green and Pink), 2018.
- On Grief, 2019.
- You I See, 2019.
- Fourteen Schools in Fourteen Days, 2020.
- Die Fame Die, 2020.
- SEX in the 11206, 2022.
- The Last Gayborhood, 2023.
- SAUNA DISH, 2025.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Joe Ovelman - Official site https://www.joeovelman.com
- Joe Ovelman - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChsIjX5ay3BNFMZIOkY5iTg
- Joe Ovelman - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joeovelman/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovelman, Joe}}