The Night We Broke a Vase is a Solo Window Installation by Javier Jasso, opening on September 24th. The show will be in the windows of Co-Prospeerity until October 16th.
Jois us for the opening of The Night We Broke a Vase along with the opening of MODERN/ART/PUNK by Jack Walls inside the gallery on Saturday 24th of September at 6pm.
Turning memory into sculpture, Javier uses materials as associations to his surroundings. Wood, bricks, and ceramic, both collected and handmade, represent what his family experienced during his childhood, when they used to live in Guadalajara, MX.
The work tries to locate ideas of memorialization and architecture within real. In an effort to engage the notion of “domestic” and the paradox of stability, Javier brings three co-existing realities he has experienced in his childhood; domestic (home) environment, the instability of displacement, and homelessness, events he still witnesses year after year in Chicago.
The Night We Broke the Vase tries to depict an event Javier and his family experience when he was only 13 years old. During his childhood, his family moved a lot. On one occasion, they had to move to an apartment that functioned as a storage for the landlord. In this dark and crowded apartment-storage there was a room. The only rule was not to enter it, the landlord was still occupying this room with furniture and personal stuff. Javier and his two older brothers decided to enter the room without permission. When they entered the room, they broke a giant ceramic vase that was placed in front of the door by the landlord. When the landlord found out that the tenants had entered the room and broken the vase, he immediately kicked everyone out of the apartment. One of the most vivid memories Javier has about this experience is changing all their belongings on a dolly. His mom and him spent all night carrying their goods to a new apartment they found the same day the eviction took place.
About the artist:
Javier Jasso is an artist born in Chicago and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. He lives and
works on the Southside of Chicago, Back of the Yards neighborhood. Javier is a metaphorical and literal builder. Many of the materials he use come from recycled sources such as metal, plaster, plastic concrete and wood, Through sculptures and installations, he challenges, and doubts our assumptions of space, and place. He use these materials because they produce an entry point into questions around foundation for protective structures in global society, nomadism, ideas of selfhood, origin, home and displacement. He received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MFA from The University of Illinois of Chicago. He was a fellow at the DFI where he was awarded $12,000. Javier’s shows include Evanston Art Center, Humboldt Park Vocational Center, McLean County Art Center, Gallery 400, University Club Chicago, and Sullivan Gallery. He is currently teaching Ceramics at University of St. Francis, Joliet and SAIC, Chicago.