Kelly Jazvac

For the last fifteen years, Kelly Jazvac has made artworks with plastic discards from the advertising industry. Jazvac is interested in linking an environmental attunement to the evidence present in these materials: that is, certain human behaviours and attitudes that enable the climate crisis. This evidence is representationally, symbolically and physically embedded in the found photography that makes up the majority of her practice. Her co-authored, collaborative art/science research has been published in scientific journals including Nature Reviews, GSA Today, and Science of the Total Environment. Jazvac is also part of a plastic pollution research team called The Synthetic Collective, which includes scientists, artists, art historians, philosophers, and writers. The work of this research group is highly influential on Jazvac’s artistic practice.

Kelly Jazvac is a Canadian artist based in Montréal, Canada. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto (MOCA), the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary art, The Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Art Museum at the University of Toronto, the Eli and Edyth Broad Museum (East Lansing), Ujazdowski Castle CCA (Warsaw), and FIERMAN Gallery (New York). Her work has been written about in National Geographic, e-flux Journal, Hyperallergic, Art Forum, The New Yorker, Canadian Art Magazine, and The Brooklyn Rail. Her work can be found in the collections of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, RBC art collection and the Caisse de dépôt et placement Québec.

Recent Exhibitions

Kelly Jazvac - The Accumulating Years
From September 11 to October 15, 2022

 

+ CV

EDUCATION

2006 - Master’s of Fine Art, University of Victoria (BC)

2003 - Bachelor of Arts, Honours, University of Guelph (ON)

COLLECTIONS

RBC Art Collection

CDPQ Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

MAC Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art

GRANTS AND DISTINCTIONS

2021

  • Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Production Grant

2020

  • (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Team Project for Plastics Pollution Research): SSHRC Connection Grant: “Plastic Heart: Art and Museum as Catalyst in Tackling Plastics Pollution”

2017

  • (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Team Project for Plastics Pollution Research): SSHRC Insight Grant: “Understanding Plastics Pollution: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Forensic Methodology”

2016

  • (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Team Project for Plastics Pollution Research): Centre for Environment and Sustainability Seed Grant
  • Sobey Award Longlist (Ontario)
  • (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Team Project for Plastics Pollution Research):SSHRC application assistance grant
  • Canada Council Project Grant

2015

  • Dean’s Travel Research Grant for exhibitions in Norway and Toronto

2015

  • Western University Bridge Grant
  • Canada Council Travel Grant

2014

  • Sobey Art Award Longlist (Ontario)
  • Dean’s Travel Research Grant for exhibition at Art Gallery of Windsor

2013

  • (Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Team Project for Plastics Pollution Research): SSHRB Grant for interdisiciplinary plastics pollution research project
  • Canada Council for the Arts Visual Arts Project Grant

2012

  • Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant

2011

  • Dean’s Travel Research Grant, University of Western Ontario

2009

  • Canada Council International Residency Production Grant

2008

  • Canada Council Travel Grant
  • Canada Council Project Grant

2007

  • Toronto Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant
  • Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant

2006

  • Andy Farquharson Award

2005

  • University of Victoria Graduate Fellowship

2004

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canadian Graduate Scholarship

2003

  • Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined)
  • DuMaurier Arts Emerging Artist Grant
  • University of Guelph College of Arts Gold Medal
  • David Murray Medal in the Arts
  • Gordon Couling Studio Art Scholarship

2002

  • Christian Cardell Corbet Prize in Sculpture

+ Solo Exhibitions

2022-2023

  • Time Scale, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON

2022

  • The Accumulating Years, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, QC

2021

  • Polyempath Polyethylene, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
  • They forgot they were a landscape, FIERMAN Gallery, New York, NY

2019

  • Fault Line Scenography, Carl Louie, Toronto, ON
  • Plastiglomerates, The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum, University of Michigan, East Lansing, MI

2018

  • Lamina Stamina, Museum London, London, ON

2017

  • Rock Record, FIERMAN Gallery, New York, NY
  • Proof of Performances, Gallery TPW, Toronto, ON
  • Sharp and Numb Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, MB

2016

  • BROWSING, installation at the former David Mirvish Gallery and Books on Art, curated by Eleanor Johnston as an independent project affiliated with Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON

2015

  • Site Words, Spoilers and Shoplifters, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2014

  • Anthropophotogenic, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, curated by Ivan Jurakic, Waterloo, ON
  • Recent Landscapes, Louis B. James Gallery, New York

2013

  • PARK, curated by Jon Davies, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON
  • Impel With Puffs, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2012

  • Thermoloaded, Louis B. James, New York, NY

2010

  • New Vinyl Work, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2009

  • Hi Limit Slots, Khyber ICA, Halifax, NS

2008

  • Sticky, YYZ Artist’s Outlet, Toronto, ON

2007

  • Hot Tub and Paper Towels, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON
  • Upgrade, Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto, ON
  • Part of the Enterprise, The Drawing Room, University of Victoria, BC

2004

  • D.I.Y.G.P.S., Zsa Zsa Gallery, Toronto, ON

+ Selected Group Exhibitions

2022

  • Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through, adapted exhibition for Canadian Consulate in Paris, France
  • Car Show, Erin Stump Projects, Toronto, ON

2021

  • Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through, organized by The Synthetic Collective in collaboration with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, ON
  • Incomplete Open, two person exhibition with Mathieu Lacroix, MacBride Contemporary, Montréal, QC

2020

  • La machine qui enseignait des airs aux oiseaux, curated by Mark Lanctot and François LeTourneux, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal, QC
  • Broken Nature, curated by Paola Antonelli, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

2019

  • Plasticity of the Planet, Ujazdowski Castle CCA, Warsaw, Poland
  • Broken Nature, curated by Paola Antonelli (MOMA, NY), XXII Triennial International, Exhibition, Milan, Italy

2018

  • Laughing and Crying, curated by Friends and Neighbours Gallery at Espace Pop, Montreal, PQ
  • Museum of Capitalism, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Boston, MA
  • Learning from the Lake, Art Museum, curated by Katie Lawson, University of Toronto
  • Desk Set, (four person exhibition with Marvin Gaye Cheywynd, Ayoung Kim and Madison Bycroft), Curated by Céline Poulin, CAC Brétigny, France
  • Plastic Entanglements (touring), curated by Heather Davis, The Palmer Museum, Penn State University, State College, PA

2017

  • Opening exhibition at The Museum of Capitalism, Oakland, CA
  • Homestead, Carl Louie, London, ON
  • Song of the Open Road, Contemporary Art Gallery, as part of the Capture Photography Festival, Vancouver, BC
  • An absolute movement, Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC
  • Atmospheres of Form, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, QC
  • Crisp Edge, Fuzzy Border, Kristen Lorello Gallery, New York, NY

2016

  • A Stratigraphic Fiction, curated by Ginny Kollak, The Berman Museum, Philadelphia
  • October, at Carl Louie Gallery, London, ON
  • Vie d’ange, at Vie D’ange Gallery, Montreal, QC
  • All This Time, Hugh Jackman Institute of Humanites, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, curated by Jaclyn Quaresma, Toronto, ON
  • The Future We Remember, The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, curated by Sarah Higgins and Cora Fisher, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
  • Showroom, University of Toronto Art Centre and Barnicke Gallery, curated by Sarah Robayo-Sheridan, Toronto, ON

2015

  • Rocks, Stones and Dust, University of Toronto Art Centre, curated by John Hampton, Toronto, ON
  • Organic Situation, Koenig and Clinton, New York, NY
  • An other land…and in the other, our own, Prosjekstrom Normanns, curated by Ian Cofre, Stavanger, Norway
  • IN MY FAITH THERE IS LOVING AND DRINKING AND LOOKING AT THE SUN AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD LIKE, Garden Avenue Projects, curated by Ella Dawn McGeough, Toronto, ON
  • Human Nature, (touring) Carleton University Art Gallery and the Kenderdine Art Gallery, curated by Corinna Ghaznavi, Ottawa, ON and Saskatoon, SK

2014

  • Possible Futures: What is to be done? Curated by Srimoyee Mitra, Melissa Bennett, Lucy Howe, Stuart Reid and Gregory Tom, Windsor Triennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON

2013

  • Touch The Moon, curated by Kristen Lorello, Louis B. James, New York, NY
  • Hybrid Painting, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll, as part of curated by_ vienna 2013, Vienna
  • More Than Two, curated by Micah Lexier, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
  • Surface Tension, curated by Jacob Korzynski, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON
  • Voyager and Stowaways, curated by Patrick Mahon, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON
  • Sample, The ArtLab, London, ON
  • No Boys with Frogs, DNA Artspace, London, ON

2011

  • Barroco Nova, curated by Patrick Mahon and Susan Edelstein, Museum London, ON
  • You can never go home anymore, Louis B. James, New York, NY
  • Body Asylum, curated by Lucas Soi, Soi Fischer Gallery(three person exhibition), Vancouver, BC
  • Winter Show, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

2010

  • Enthusiasm, curated by Nicholas Brown, Red Bull 381 Projects, (three person exhibition), Toronto, ON
  • Things You Should Know…, ArtLab, University of Western Ontario, London, ON

2009

  • Air Conditioned Jungle, curated by Gregory Elgstrand, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON
  • Double Confluence, collaborative exhibition with Mitzi Pederson and Patrick Howlett, Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin
  • The Way I Are, curated by Katie Bethune-Leamen, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto

2008

  • Pleinairism, curated by Kitty Scott, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
  • The Constant Search for a Better Way, curated by Bill Jeffries, Simon Fraser University Gallery, Burnaby, BC
  • Dream Home, Plug-In ICA, Winnipeg, MB

2007

  • Pulp, Open Space, curated by Megan Dickie, Ross MacCauly and Rebecca Michaels, Victoria, BC

2005

  • Kelly Jazvac and Lucy Pullen, Exhibition Hall, curated by Luanne Martineau, University of Victoria, BC
  • So, you want to think freely! Production Studio Exhibitions, twcurated by Lucy Pullen, Vancouver, BC
  • Voitures à Controverse: Débrayé, The Darling Foundry, Montréal, QC
  • The McCleave Gallery Cross Canada Tour, the Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, ODD Gallery, Dawson City, YK

2004

  • MOBLOG, web-based exhibition curated by Dr. Susan Douglas, Guelph, ON