MILWAUKEE: Isaac Julien / Milwaukee Art Museum

Currents 34: Isaac Julien
March 24, 2012 - February 2013

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
700 North Museum Drive
Milwaukee, WI

London-based artist Isaac Julien is a pioneering film and video artist exploring themes of expeditions and voyages. His multi-screen installations display rich narrative imageries of architecture and landscapes that reference issues in global politics, race, and migration. An internationally recognized artist and filmmaker, Julien’s video installations combine mesmerizing images linked across screens with compelling audio tracks that are immediately engaging yet conceptually layered.

The Expeditions exhibition includes True North (2004), Fantome Afrique (2005), and the Milwaukee Art Museum’s recent acquisition, Western Union: Small Boats (2007), a tour-de-force of video installation. Throughout his career, Julien has explored issues relating to his gay identity and minority status. Recently, this has evolved into a profound investigation of the disenfranchised in the age of globalism.

Source

POSE: Isaac Julien / Glass Magazine / Autumn 2010

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JERMAINE FRANCIS

"I AM VERY INTERESTED IN THE WAY IN WHICH ONE CAN HAVE A CERTAIN DISTURBING OR TRAUMATIC BEAUTY, A FORM OF SUBLIME. IT INTRODUCES A CREATIVE DISSONANCE THAT HAS SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH BLUES -- I OFTEN THINK ABOUT HOW A LOT OF BLACK MUSIC HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED THROUGH WHAT ARE SOMETIMES QUITE DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL EXPERIENCES AND HOW THAT WAY OF COMMUNICATING HAS A CERTAIN SUBLIMITY TO IT." 

-- ISAAC JULIEN

Award-winning installation artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien's film Better Life is on view September 10 thru November 13, 2011 at the Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art in Gothenburg Sweden. His nine-screen installation film Ten Thousand Waves will be featured (on three screens) September 22 thru October 30, 2011 at the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in Moscow Russia.  Click on the link below for more Isaac Julien news and upcoming exhibit schedule.

Isaac Julien online

Glass magazine online