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Jana Sterbak

 

  • born in 1955 in Prague, Czech Republic
  • immigrated to Montréal, Québec in 1968
  • Vancouver School of Art, Vancouver, British Columbia (1973-74); University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia (1974-75); B.F.A. Concordia University, Montréal, Québec (1977); University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (1980-1982)

Much of Jana Sterbak's artistic production centers around themes of power, control, seduction, sexuality and the ways in which human beings have turned to technology to transcend their physicality. In Jana Sterbak: States of Being (1991), Diana Nemiroff explained that Sterbak's artistic vision was shaped by her childhood in Prague and her experiences in a Marxist/Leninist educational system. Describing Sterbak's creative practice, Nemiroff wrote "a propensity for irreverence and a sense of the absurd, as well as a vision of the darker forces in human life that is quite her own, might be traced in part to Sterbak's growing up in Prague." Sterbak's predilection for black humour and her use of irony, humanism and fantasy have been attributed to her appreciation of the writings of such Czech literary figures as Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek and Karel Capek. Sterbak's sculptural works often take the form of garment-like constructions. For example, in 1986 her work, I Want You to Feel the Way I Do (1985), part of a joint exhibition with Polish artist Krzyzstof Wodiczko, consisted of a wire mesh dress that stood on its own with an uninsulated glowing nickelchrome wire wrapped around it. Part of the accompanying text read, "I want you to feel the way I do: there is wire wrapped all around my head and my skin grates on my flesh from the inside. How can you be so comfortable only 5 inches to the left of me?" Philip Evans-Clark wrote of the piece: "Sterbak's sculpture at first glance seems to be a witness to some difficult destiny--an [exhibit] in a trial of consciousness knowing little peace . . . . Clothing, like masks, plays with morality. It never challenges our identity on its own terms, but toys with it, turns it upside down, multiplies it . . ." (1986). Remote Control (1989) consists of a motorized metal crinoline. In order to wear this hoop dress, the female performer must place herself into a canvas panty at the center of the garment. The performer's movements are determined by a remote control which is held by the male attendant or by the female wearer/performer. While Remote Control is the result of Sterbak's examination of how technological advances have permitted us to temporarily surpass the confines of our corporeality, she is also interested in drawing our attention to the pitfalls of technological innovation. Many of Sterbak's sculptural garments are cage-like, alluding to the imprisoning effects of technological innovation, implying that our quest to free ourselves from our bodily limits is perhaps equally oppressive. In 1991, her work Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic (1987) received widespread publicity, as it was composed of fifty pieces of flank steak that cured over a period of several weeks until the artist replaced it with a fresh meat dress. In 1997, Sterbak held an exhibition of several recent works under the title Metamorphosis, continuing her explanation of clothing and cages, adding works about cricket fights and moths eating. "Pushing the envelope is this artist's natural state," Irena Zantovska Murray wrote in the exhibition catalogue. "Her interest in cage-like structures . . . is of as long duration as her desire to explore the themes of aggression and survival, domesticity and disruption of self-inflicted pain and of the transformation of self . . . . Here, imaginary beings switch voices alter genders, shed old skins, and assume new identities" (1997).

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1999 Jana Sterbak
Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

1998 Jana Sterbak
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

Galeria Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, Spain

 

1997 Jana Sterbak: Metamorphosis
David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island

 

1996 Jana Sterbak: New Photoworks
Donald Young Gallery, Seattle, Washington

Trichotilomania III
Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

 

1995 Jana Sterbak
Donald Young Gallery, Seattle, Washington

Jana Sterbak: VELLEITAS
Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne, France; Fundacio Antoni Tapies, Barcelona, Spain; Serpentine Gallery, London, England

 

1994 Jana Sterbak: Déclaration
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, Nantes, France; Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec

 

1993 Jana Sterbak
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark

I Want You to Feel the Way I Do
Fundacio, la Caixa, Barcelona, Spain

Jana Sterbak: Lénine rétréci
Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

 

1992 Project Room
Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

Galerie Crousel-Robelin/ BAMA, Paris, France

 

1991 Jana Sterbak: Sisyphe II
Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

Jana Sterbak: States of Being/Corps à corps
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (travelling)

 

1990 Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, New York

 

1989 The Western Front, Vancouver, British Columbia

MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan

Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

 

1988 The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario

 

1987 The Ydessa Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

 

1985 The Ydessa Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

 

1982 Golem - Objects as Sensations
Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario

 

1981 How Things Stand Up
Main Exit, Vancouver, British Columbia

 

1980 YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto, Ontario

Travaux récents
Galerie Optica, Montréal, Québec

 

1978 Pumps Art
Vancouver, British Columbia

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1998 Addressing the Century
Hayward Gallery, London, England; Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany

Crossings/Traversées
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Oevres récentes
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France

The Quiet of the Land
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts

Spectacular Optical
Thread Waxing Space, New York New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida

Disidentico: maschile femminile e altro
Palazzo Branciforte, Palermo, Italy

The Secret Life of Clothes
Mitsubishi-jisho Artium/The Nishinippon, Fukuoka, Japan

Desde el Cuerpo. Alegorias de lo femenino
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

 

1997 Five Years of Collecting
Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec

Fifth International Istanbul Biennial
Istanbul Turkey

Trash quando i rifiuti diventano arte
Palazzo delle Albere, Trento, Italy

love hotel
Travelling exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Australia

The Quiet of the Land
Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Maine

Floating Images of Women in Art History: From the Birth of the Feminism toward the Dissolution of the Gender
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi, Japan

Le songe de Constantin
Villa de Noailles, Hyères, France

Art/Fashion
Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York

Objectifs corps
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Québec

Introvertions
Contemporary Art Museum, Barcelona, Spain

Inside the Visible
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia'

Art on the Edge of Fashion
ASU Art Museum, Nelson Fine Arts Center, Tempe, Arizona; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hill, Michigan

 

1996 Corps étrangers
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

L'oeil du collectionneur
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec

Il tempo e la moda
Biennale di Firenze, Florence, Italy

Embedded Metaphor
Independent Curators Incorporated, New York (travelling)

NowHere
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark

L'art au corps
MAC, galeries contemporaines des musée de Marseille, Marseille, France

Collection/Parcours (Genevieve Cadieux, Annette Messager, Jana Sterbak)
Musée départemental de Rochefort, France

Feed and Greed
Decorative Arts Museum, Vienna, Austria

Inside the Visible
ICA, Boston, Massachusetts; White Chapel, London, England; Kanaal Art Foundation, Courtai, Belgium

 

1995 Colisiones-Collisions
Arteleku, San Sebastian, Spain

Picola Scultura
Padova Bienniale, Padua, Italy

Fémininmasculin: le sexe de l'art
Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Muse?
Galerie Thaddaeu Ropac, Paris, France; Salzburg, Austria

Beyond the Borders
Kwangju Biennale, Korea

PerForms: Janine Antoni, Charles Ray, Jana Sterbak
ICA, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Traces de la danse
Musée d'art de Joliette, Joliette, Québec

Rites of Passage
Tate Gallery, London, England

Premiers Dons 1964-1965 et Dons 1989-1994
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec

Images in Perspective
Zeryntia, Serre di Rapolano, Tuscany, Italy

Chocolate!
The Swiss Institute, New York, New York

Spirits on the Crossing: Travellers to/from Nowhere. Contemporary Art in Canada 1980-1994
Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japan

 

1994 Corpus I & II
Gairloch and Centennial Galleries, Oakville, Ontario

Social Fabric
Beaver College Art Gallery, Glenside, Pennsylvania

Heart of Darkness
Kröller Müller Museum, Oterloo, The Netherlands

Trans
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France

Hors limite
Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, France

. . . ou leas oiseaux selon Schopenhauer
Musée  des Beaux-Arts d'Agen, Agen, France

Séduction
Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

 

1993 Uber Leben
Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany

Space of Time: Contemporary Art from the Americas
Americas Society, New York, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida

De la main à la tête, l'objet théorique
Centre d'art contemporain du domaine de Kerguéhennec, Locminé, France

Elective Affinities
Tate Gallery Liverpool, Liverpool, England

Canada, une nouvelle génération
FRAC de Pays de la Loire, Clisson, Musée des Beaux-Arts/FRAC Franche-Comté, Dole, France

. . . Just to Name a Few
Barbara Weiss Gallery, Berlin, Germany

At the Edge of Chaos - New Images of the World
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark

 

1992 Generique 1: Desordres
Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

Between the Sheets
P.P.O.W., New York, New York

Interntionale Kunstlerplakate
Saarbrucken, Germany

Power Play
The Betty Rymer Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Donald Young Gallery, Seattle, Washington

 

1991 The Wealth of Nations
Centre for Contemporry Art Ujazdowski Castle, Varsovie, Poland

Un-natural Traces. Contemporary Art from Canada
Barbican Art Gallery, London, England

Interiors
Galerie Crousel-Robelin/BAMA, Paris, France

Un archipel de désirs: les artistes du Québec et la scène internationale
Musée du Québec, Québec

With This Ring . . .
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Engalnd

The Embodied Viewer
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta

Vanitas
Galerie Crousel-Robelin/BAMA, Paris, France

 

1990 Goya to Beijing
Centre international d'art contemporain, Montréal, Québec; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Four Cities Project
Newcastle, England

Figuring the Body
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Aperto '90
Venice Biennale, Vencie, Italy

Diagnosis
Art Gallery of York University, North York, Ontario

 

1989 Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Dark Room
Artists Space, New York, New York

 

1988 Impossible Self
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia

Identity, Identities
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Group Material
Dia Foundatin, New York, New York

Disturbance/Enchantment
The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario

 

1987 Subject/Object
56 Bleeker Gallery Limited, New York, New York

 

1986 Oevres Ex-Centrées
Galerie René Blouin, Montréal, Québec

Songs of Experience/Chants d'expérience
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Jana Sterbak, Krysztof Wodiczko
49th Parallel, New York, New York; Nexus Gallery of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, Georgia (travelling)

Sept sculpteurs canadiens
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec

Postmarked New York
Southern Albera Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Alberta

 

1985 Anadromous
Mchael Katz Gallery, New York, New York

Ida Appelbroog and Jana Sterbak
Glendon Galley, Toronto, Ontario

 

1984 Works Selected by David Rabinowich
49th Parallel, New York

Influencing Machines
YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto, Ontario

Canada/New York
49th Parallel, New York

 

1983 Unaffiliated Artists
International Exposure, Toronto, Ontario

Small Works
Pomona University Gallery, California

Small Works
San Diego University Gallery, California

 

1982 Photos by Artists
Galerie France Morin, Montréal, Québec

Monumenta
YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto, Ontario

Menues manoeuvres
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Québec

Four artists
S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

 

1981 The New YYZ, Toronto, Ontario

 

1979 Bookworks
Powerhouse, Montréal, Québec

 

1978 5 Artists
Galerie Optica, Montréal, Québec

 


COLLECTIONS

"Caixa", Barcelona, Spain
Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris, France
Fonds national d'art contemporain, France
FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec
Musée d'art contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
Musée d'art moderne de Saint Étienne, France
Musée de Marseille, France
Musée départemental de Rochechouart, France
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France
Musée du Québec, Québec
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
San Diego Museum of Contemporay Art, San Diego, California
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, Minnesota

 


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andreae, Janice. "Jana Sterbak." Parachute 49 (December 1987-February 1988): 39-40.

Baert, Renée. Enchantment/Disturbance. Toronto, Ontario: The Power Plant, 1988.

Balfour, Barbara McGill, and Randy Hemminghaus. "Jana Sterbak." Vanguard 16, no.4 (September/October 1987): 38-39.

Bradley, Jessica, and Diana Nemiroff. Songs of Experience. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1986.

Couëlle, Jennifer. "Dissiper l'illusion, mais laquelle? Jana Sterbak au Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal." Espace 30 (Winter 1995): 41-42.

Desordres: Nan Goldin, Mike Kelley, Kiki Smith, Jana Sterbak,
Tunga.
Paris, France: Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, 1992.

Evans-Clark, Philip. Jana Sterbak/Krysztof Wodiczko. New York, New York: 49th Parallel and Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, 1986.

Ferguson, Bruce. Jana Sterbak. New York, New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990.

---, and Sandy Nairne. The Impossible Self. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1988.

Gale, Peggy. "Focus on Jana Sterbak." Canadian Art 5, no.3 (Fall 1988): 125.

Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume. Désordres. Paris, France: Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, 1992.

Greenberg, Reesa. "Jana Sterbak." C Magazine 16 (Winter 1987-88): 50-53.

"Its really a red herring (Jana Sterbak: Vanitas, Flesh Dress For An Albino Anorexic)." Fuse Magazine, 14 no.4 (Spring 1991): 11.

Jackson, Marni. "The Body Electric." Canadian Art 6, no.1 (Spring 1989): 64-71.

Jana Sterbak / Jana Sterbak. Nantes, France, Musée des beaux-arts de Nantes, 1994.

"Jana Sterbak: Trichotilomania." Spirale 149 (July/August 1996): 24.

Madill, Shirley J. Identity/Identities: Shelagh Alexander, Kati Campbell, Janice Gurney, Mary Scott, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero and Jana Sterbak. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1988.

McFadden, David. "Jana Sterbak." Vanguard 15, no. 1 (February/March 1986): 45-46.

McGregor, Jane. "New Metaphors For the Body as Self in the Art of Liz Magor and Jana Sterbak." M.A. Thesis, Carleton University.

Miller, Earl. "Jana Sterbak." Art Post 5, no. 2 (Winter 1987-88): 11-15.

Milroy, Sarah. "The Flesh Dress: A Defence." Canadian Art 8, no. 2 (Summer 1991): 72.

Morgan, Stuart, and Frances Morris. Rites of Passage: Art for the End of the Century. With contributions by Stephen Greenblatt, Julia Kristeva, and Charles Penwarden. London, England: Tate Gallery Publications, 1995.

Murray, Irena Zantovska. Jana Sterbak: Metamorphosis. Providence, Rhode Island: David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, 1997.

---. "Velleitas: Jana Sterbak." Parachute 82 (April/May/June 1996): 66.

Nemiroff, Diana. Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1991.

---. Jana Sterbak: States of Being/ Corps à corps. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1991.

Noble, Richard. "The laboratory of the self." Parachute 64 (October/November/December 1991): 41-43.

Perry, Richard. Review of Jana Sterbak: States of Being, by Diana Nemiroff. Books In Canada 20, no.5 (June/July 1991): 36-37.

St-Gelais, Therese. Diagonales Montréal: 10 monographies. Montréal, Québec: Parachute, 1992.

Scott, Kitty, and Johanne Sloan. "Jana Sterbak." Parachute 55 (July/August/September 1989): 46-47.

Sterbak, Jana. Jana Sterbak: March 16 - May 5, 1989, Mackenzie Art Gallery,
Regina
. Regina, Saskatchewan: Norman MacKenzie Gallery, 1989.

---, and Ihor Holubizky. Jana Sterbak. Toronto, Ontario: Power Plant, 1988.

Town, Elke. "Influencing Machines." Parachute 36 (September/November 1984): 58-60.

 

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