Carey Young Explained

Carey Young
Birth Name:Carey Young
Birth Place:Lusaka, Zambia
Nationality:UK/US
Known For:Contemporary art Video art Photography Installation art
Education:Royal College of Art, London

Carey Young (born 1970) is a visual artist whose work is often inspired by law, politics and economics. The tools, language and architectures of these fields act as material for her videos, text works, performances and photographs, often developing from the professional cultures she explores. In her early video works, she donned attire appropriate to the business and legal worlds, enacting scenarios which examine and question each institution's power to shape society and individual identity. Since 2002, Young developed a large body of work addressing and critiquing law in relation to ideas of site, gender and performance. Young teaches at the Slade School of Fine Art in London where she is an Associate Professor in Fine Art.[1]

Early life and education

Born in Lusaka in Zambia in 1970, Young grew up in Manchester, England and studied at Manchester Polytechnic, the University of Brighton and photography at the Royal College of Art in London. She has dual US/UK citizenship and lives and works in London, UK.[2]

Exhibitions and themes

Young's work has been exhibited at museums and galleries all over the world. Highlights include solo exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford, Dallas Museum of Art, Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, The Power Plant, The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and inclusion in group exhibitions at Centre Pompidou,[3] Tate Britain, the Whitechapel Art Gallery,[4] the Hayward Gallery, Secession,[5] Kunstverein München,[6] Mass MOCA,[7] MoMA PS1, Jeu de Paume and the Venice,[8] Moscow,[9] Taipei,[10] Tirana[11] and Busan[12] biennials.

Young's work is included in the public collections of the Centre Pompidou,[13] Arts Council England,[14] Dallas Museum of Art,[15] and Tate.[16] She is represented by Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.

Young's projects often center on ideas of the body, language, rhetoric, and systems of power. Since 2002, her work has shifted into an interest in law and the legal imagination. 'Disclaimer', a 2003 exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute[17] examined legal disclaimers as a form of negative space. In 2005, she showed 'Consideration', a series of works exploring the connections between contract law and performance art at Paula Cooper Gallery in New York as part of the PERFORMA05 Biennial.[18] RoseLee Goldberg described the works in this show as "dealing with the overwhelming power of the law."[19] This is seen again in 'Declared Void' (2005) which explores the relationship between the law and the constitutional identity of individuals.

Her 2013 exhibition "Legal Fictions" at Migros Museum in Zurich was described by Mousse Magazine as featuring:

"law-based works [that] address the monolithic power of the legal system. The artist examines law as a conceptual and abstract space in which power, rights, and authority are played out through varying forms of performance and language. With the drafting assistance of legal advisers, her works often take the form of experimental but functional legal instruments such as contracts, and also employ media such as video, installation, and text."[20]

Her 2017 video installation 'Palais de Justice',[21] at Paula Cooper Gallery was described by critic Jeffrey Kastner as: “quietly stunning … vividly proposes a juridical world as it might otherwise be, a form of the Law that may someday be possible.”[22]

Johanna Fateman, Artforum, described the work as: "a transfixing (...) speculative fiction", a "tantalising (...) novel mockup of a post-patriarchal legal system."[23]

Laura Cumming, of The Observer, said "Young’s profound and involving examination of the law has continued through film, photography and installation art for more than 20 years. (...) The laws that govern our rights, our agency and even our movements in this world are, for Young, 'a form of choreography'."[24]

Selected solo exhibitions

2023Modern Art Oxford

2019La Loge, Brussels

Towner, Eastbourne

2017Palais de Justice, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York;The New Architecture, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas

2013Legal Fictions, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich;Let the World Speak for Itself, Le Quartier Centre d'Art Contemporain, Quimper

2010Memento Park, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (and tour to Cornerhouse, Manchester and MiMA, Middlesbrough);Contracting Universe, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

2009Carey Young: Uncertain Contracts, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence;Speech Acts, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis;Counter Offer, The Power Plant, Toronto

2008Mutual Release, Thomas Dane, London

2007If/Then, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York;Speechcraft, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (performance);Consideration, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis

2006Image Transfer, Umea Art Academy, Umea, curated by Maria Lind

2005Consideration, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York (part of Performa05 Biennial);The Representative, solo presentation, IBID Projects booth, Zoo Art Fair, London;Disclaimer, IBID Projects, LondonCarey Young, Trafo Gallery, Budapest.

2004Disclaimer, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds;Participant Observer, participative workshop on art and economics, IASPIS, Stockholm;Carey Young, Index, Stockholm;Viral Marketing, (The Revolution is Us! & Getting Things Done When You're Not in Charge), Kunstverein München

2003Optimum Performance, A Short History of Performance - Part II, Whitechapel Gallery, London; Carey Young, IBID Projects, Vilnius;Viral Marketing, Kunstverein Munich;

2001 - 2002Business as Usual, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, Angel Row, Nottingham; Firstsite, Colchester (curated and organised by Film & Video Umbrella)

2001My Megastore, site-specific works at Virgin Megastore, London;Carey Young, Video Project Space, Wilkinson Gallery, London

2000Nothing Ventured, fig-1, London (exh. cat.)

Other publications

Young's work has been included in numerous publications and a number of videos and audio recordings.[25]

Selected periodicals

Web articles

Books

Videos about the artist

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About. 2021-02-15. Carey Young. en-GB.
  2. Web site: Young . Carey . Artist's official CV . 9 November 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131109201118/http://www.careyyoung.com/cv.html . 9 November 2013 . dmy .
  3. Web site: Paula Cooper Gallery - "Carey Young" . Paula Cooper Gallery.
  4. Web site: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. 2004-12-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20041220200001/http://www.whitechapel.org/content414.html. 2004-12-20. 2018-04-03.
  5. Web site: secession.at. https://web.archive.org/web/20060921095039/http://www.secession.at/art/2001_ausgetr_e.html. dead. 21 September 2006.
  6. Web site: artfacts.net.
  7. Web site: MASS MoCA. 7 May 2015. massmoca.org.
  8. Web site: Artist's CV via Paula Cooper Gallery (artist's representative) . Paula Cooper Gallery.
  9. Web site: Artist's CV via Paula Cooper Gallery (artist's representative . Paula Cooper Gallery.
  10. Web site: Artist's CV via Paula Cooper Gallery (artist's representative) . Paula Cooper Gallery.
  11. Web site: Carey Young - artist CV . Carey Young website.
  12. Web site: Carey Young - artist CV . Carey Young website.
  13. Web site: centrepompidou.fr. https://web.archive.org/web/20071102092652/http://www.centrepompidou.fr/Pompidou/Docs.nsf/Docs/ID24125893193A8805C1256DA300397E0C?OpenDocument&sessionM=4.2&L=2%23. dead. 2 November 2007.
  14. Web site: The Arts Council Collection. https://web.archive.org/web/20070107082355/http://www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk/main.html. 2007-01-07. 7 January 2007.
  15. Web site: Home | Dallas Museum of Art. dma.org.
  16. Web site: Search results. Tate.
  17. http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/matrix_engine/content.php?page_id=351 henry-moore-fdn.co.uk
  18. Web site: performa-arts.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20061207035547/http://05.performa-arts.org/about. dead. 7 December 2006.
  19. Web site: nyfa.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20070304034604/http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=421&fid=4&sid=8. dead. 4 March 2007.
  20. Web site: Carey Young "Legal Fictions" at Migros Museum, Zurich. 9 September 2013 . Mousse Magazine. 9 November 2013.
  21. Web site: Palais de Justice. Carey Young. en-GB. 2019-08-31.
  22. Web site: Carey Young "Palais de Justice" at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Vice Magazine. 23 November 2017.
  23. Web site: Carey Young "Palais de Justice" at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Artforum. 30 November 2017.
  24. News: Cumming . Laura . 26 March 2023 . Carey Young: Appearance review – the faces of female justice . The Observer . 10 April 2023.
  25. Web site: The Slade School of Fine Arts: Ms Carey Young. The Slade School of Fine Art: Ms Carey Young. The Slade School of Fine Art. 9 November 2013.
  26. Web site: Carey Young Fights the Law and Wins in Her Imposing New Video. Kastner. Jeffrey. 2017-09-28. Vice. en. 2019-08-31.
  27. Web site: Carey Young at Dallas Museum of Art. www.artforum.com. en-US. 2019-08-31.
  28. Web site: "Friendly, Honest, Straightforward": Meditations on Power - ELEPHANT . 2 January 2019 . 3 January 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190103004748/https://elephant.art/friendly-honest-straightforward-meditations-power/ . dead .
  29. Web site: NYFA Interactive - New York Foundation for the Arts. https://web.archive.org/web/20070304034604/http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=421&fid=4&sid=8. dead. 2007-03-04. 2007-03-04. 2019-08-31.
  30. Web site: village voice > art > Best in Show: Carey Young's "If/Then," 'The Office,' and Jean Foos's 'The Other Me' by R.C. Baker. https://web.archive.org/web/20071223155800/http://www.villagevoice.com/art/0750,baker,78562,13.html. dead. 2007-12-23. 2007-12-23. 2019-08-31.