Jacob Kassay

Born in 1984 in Lewiston, NY, Jacob Kassay lives and works in New York. The artist challenges the traditional parameters of artmaking in conceptually driven installations that respond to and occupy their environment in unexpected ways. The arrangement of an exhibition and how his pieces interact with the surrounding architecture – and ultimately their audience – is key to understanding the essence of his work. Kassay’s paintings interrelate and form multiple dialogues: with each other, with the space around them and with the viewer. The language of materials is important to Kassay, who pays great attention to form, surface and physicality. Although lacking marks that could be conceived as gestural, a close inspection of his seemingly blank or monotone paintings reveals traces of their making – small incidental marks, or burnt edges, for example. Jacob Kassay’s practice also encompasses film and sculpture. Critic Alex Bacon has written that his work “actively poses the question—what does it mean to be represented?…This kind of aesthetic activity is suspended somewhere between the “real” world that is reflected, and the particular aesthetic world a painting inhabits as an…autonomous thing.” ...

To avoid any narcissism the gallery will not bear a name, but instead mark of the end of a century during which the Fine Arts are exhausted of unknown practices and forms, Art: Concept was born. In 1997, the gallery joined its friends in the 13th district of Paris to be part of the adventure of the brand new rue Louise Weiss. Despite unforgettable years in this district, the move to the Marais was inevitable. Today, the gallery is located in a private passage (passage Sainte Avoye) and represents artists with whom it has been working for 25 years as well as young graduates. Trying to reflect the evolution of society, the gallery emphasises its proposals in a multi-faceted reflection on individuality and collectivity in a wide range of contexts. Like Janus, it looks both to the past and the future. Today's world is so in need of reference points that it's reassuring to invent a future, thanks to artists, as well as to compare it to the past. We invite you to ask for it, we will be at the gallery, very happy to explain it to you. ...