Jason Rhoades, 41

August 4, 2006 2:45 PM

Jason Rhoades, Los Angeles artist, died Tuesday. He was 41. Rhoades was included in the 1995 Whitney Biennial and showed frequently in the US and Europe. Some of his work: 1, 2, 3. Also here.
posted by R. Mutt (18 comments total)

Am I missing something?
posted by null terminated at 2:52 PM on August 4, 2006

It's a flourescent light in a bucket. What's not to get?
posted by Justinian at 3:01 PM on August 4, 2006

You're just jealous that you didn't think of it first.
posted by photoslob at 3:03 PM on August 4, 2006

Aw, crap.

Am I missing something?

Yes. You are. There was something fantastically coherent about his conglomerations and configurations of ... stuff.

Just recently I've been scanning the gallery guides hoping for something of his.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:05 PM on August 4, 2006

I appreciate the post and the links, R. Mutt, this is awful news and I hadn't heard it. I love the installations that have words written in colorful light (with all those fat orange electrical cords)!
posted by sophieblue at 3:08 PM on August 4, 2006

.
posted by dontoine at 3:12 PM on August 4, 2006

.
posted by DenOfSizer at 3:22 PM on August 4, 2006

The series included such provocative and provocatively titled invitation-only events as the "Black Pussy Soiree Cabaret Macrame," a combination exhibition and dinner party that featured violet neon signs with African, Caribbean, Creole and hip-hop slang for female genitalia.

Guess you had to kinda be there. But in his defense, he was the first to combine macrame and sex.
posted by hal9k at 3:23 PM on August 4, 2006

You obviously haven't seen enough 70's porn.
posted by xod at 3:28 PM on August 4, 2006

That LATimes obit, seems to be asking for a password now, (it wasn't before) here is a different source.
posted by R. Mutt at 3:39 PM on August 4, 2006

This is pretty awesome.
posted by beerbajay at 3:47 PM on August 4, 2006

This is why I've bought memberships to the Met and MoMA -- to avoid art like this.

Condolences to his family, though.
posted by bim at 4:31 PM on August 4, 2006

"This is why I've bought memberships to the Met and MoMA -- to avoid art like this."

You know a lot of that stuff in the MoMA and the Met you prudly support?. Back when those people made it. Same reaction.

Not saying this guy is Duchamp or Goya or something, just saying that statement is silly.
posted by JPD at 4:47 PM on August 4, 2006

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Centre Pompidou, Paris
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
Tate, London
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
Villa Arson, Nice
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York



Oh, look now you have to give up your MOMA membership ...
posted by R. Mutt at 5:10 PM on August 4, 2006

Oh, look now you have to give up your MOMA membership ...

Oh now...everybody makes mistakes. Even MoMA.

And I'll keep my membership, thank you very much. It's one of NYC's best bargains.

...and don't get your undies in a twist. Nobody was dissing your post.
posted by bim at 5:49 PM on August 4, 2006

This is so sad. He was to have put on a performance
piece here in Portland Oregon in just a few days.
posted by quazichimp at 8:26 PM on August 4, 2006

.

I read the same thing quazichimp is mentioning a couple of days ago (native Portlander)...hadn't heard of the man before his death, unfortunately.
posted by nonmerci at 9:56 PM on August 4, 2006

You did have to be there. His pieces were (and are) all about the experience of walking in, among, and around them. Even if you didn't like the stuff or think it was that deep, it was kinda cool to see that much museum acreage devoted to his goofy cultural mashups, before the term existed.

Bottom line: It's fucked up. He was 41, and had a couple of kids.
posted by turducken at 9:26 PM on August 5, 2006