Babelogue
Jayson Keeling
Babelogue
mixed media, dimensions variable
Babelogue encourages participants to embrace a process-oriented experience that temporally disrupts the spell of commerce and desire. Keeling places envelopes in various locations such as JCAL’s gallery, hallways, and a vacant store. The envelopes contain potentially transformative and enlightening messages that aim to shift viewers’ focus from simply existing to one that is of clarity and contemplation (even if for a moment). The awe-inspiring flow of non-stop activity in the shopping center surrounding the Arts Center; the rousing, transcendent and poetic Patty Smith song/manifesto Babelogue; Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ honoring his deceased lover’s wishes that his ashes be spread into 100 small yellow envelopes; these and other influences inspired Keeling’s project and his process.
Jayson Keeling was born in Brooklyn, NY, and attended The Fashion Institute
of Technology. He lives and works in Long Island City, Queens. For most of his career Keeling worked almost exclusively in the medium of photography, but recently he has begun to explore painting, video, and sculpture. His work has been featured in many exhibitions, including 30 Seconds Off an Inch at The Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC; Behind The Green Door, a one-person exhibition at The Abrons Art Center Henry Street Settlement, NYC (2009); 99 and 44/100% Pure, a one-person exhibition at Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (2009); and The Queens International 4 at The Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY (2009). He has participated in many artist residencies, including The Apex Art Out-Bound Travel Residency to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2009), The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space Residency (2009) and Workspace Residency (2007-8), The Bronx Museum’s AIM 27 (2006), and Aljira’s Emerge 08 (2006).