“Jon Kuzmich translates economic data into paint in “Portrait of the US as a Consumer,” applying each datum (there are up to 4 million) with a needlepoint to create a grid pulsing with color.”

Cate McQuaid, The Boston Globe

 

“Jon Kuzmich's ostensibly abstract painting stands out by its material subtlety, but it betokens the sort of effort that lay behind Cage's refusal of nonarbitrary decision making. Kuzmich has used sequential dots of acrylic paint to translate the Book of Genesis into patterns that encode consonants, vowels, spaces, symbols and numbers.”

Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle

 

“Jon Kuzmich’s work Ethos, 2011, exploits the individual fingerprint of one copy machine, re-Xeroxing a page of text until the successive generations of copies warp and twist into a black Milky Way. Kuzmich displays not only the reams of paper he went through, but an animation of each copy scanned.  The image melts frame by frame, from one sheet to the next, invoking the photocopier as a source of light and heat, or a tactile, irregular experience.”

Maggie Haas, Art Practical

 

“Jon Kuzmich's painting, using just the tip of a needle as a brush, takes this determination to another level... The result is an entrancing piece of work that seems to crave intepretation...”

Molly Hamill, Artscope Magazine

 

ARTIST STATEMENT:

As an artist, I create labor-intensive visual systems that involve the conceptually driven organization of small singular units into large and complex patterns.  Often, my work is inspired by the fact that our perception as human beings is altered and distorted by our belief in systems that we create (religious, scientific, etc.).  By virtue of this distortion, systems change our relationship to the world, manipulate our understanding of reality and influence our relationship to the cosmos.  In essence, our belief systems keep us confined within a synthetic, human-created world.  Therefore, even though I utilize the tools of abstraction and Op-art, I consider my work to be representational because the visual systems I create alter the perception of the viewer and imply that what we see and what we know are questionable.

 

CV

Jon Kuzmich
Lives and works in the San Francisco, CA.

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EDUCATION

2011
Master of Fine Arts, with Honors
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. USA.

2002
Bachelor of Architecture
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. USA.

2001
Student Exchange Program
Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016
"Code a/Void"
INspace Curatorial, curated by Hanna Regev, San Francisco, CA: April, 2016.

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021
“A Spirit of Disruption" 
Walter and McBean Galleries and Diego Rivera Gallery, SFAI Chestnut Campus, curated by Margaret Tedesco and Leila Weefur, San Francisco, CA; March 19 - July 3, 2021

2019
“Homage to the Color Wheel" 
Ruth’s Table Gallery, curated by Hanna Regev, San Francisco, CA; 2019 - 2020.

2017
"Nobdoy Walks in LA Anymore: Artists Dérive Los Angeles" 
Post Gallery, curated by Larry Gipe, Los Angeles, CA: July, 2017.

"Everyone is Hypnotized: Artists Dérive the Bay Area" 
Pro Arts Gallery, curated by Gipe+Tell, Oakland, CA: May, 2017.

2016
"Wish You Could Have Seen This" 
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, curated by Ma Li, San Francisco, CA: June - Sept, 2016.

"The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History"
•    Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland: Spring 2016.
•    Calit2 Gallery, Atkinson Hall, UC San Diego: Jan - Mar, 2016.
•    Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA: Spring 2016.

"I Will Go On"
Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA: Jan - April, 2016.

2015
"Ethos, Pathos, Logos"
Gallery 114, Portland, OR: June 2015.

Obsidere"
Alterspace Gallery, San Francisco, CA: May - June 2015.

"Radical Shift"
Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA:  April - June, 2015.

"Living with Endangered Languages"
Root Division, San Francisco, CA:  Jan 2015.
DeAnza College, Cupertino, CA:  Fall, 2015.

2014
"The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History"
Patrick Ma Digital Scholarship Lab, Brown University, Providence, RI:  Sept 2014.

"Emergent 3D Visions"
Asterisk Gallery SF, San Francisco, CA: Mar 2014.

2013
"The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History"
Worth Ryder Art Gallery, Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley: Sept - Oct 2013.

"Art by Code"
Roll Up Gallery - Public Works, San Francisco, CA: June - July 2013.

"Compulsion"
Block Gallery location: Inspired Life, Oakland, CA: June - August 2013.

"Language"
Cumberland Auditorium - Stanford University, Stanford, CA: April 2013.

2012
"The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History", web exhibition, Sept 2012 - present.

"Left to Chance: The Accidental Book Art"
SF Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA: Feb - May 2012.

"Artopia"
Public Works, San Francisco, CA: Feb 2012.

"Get Lucky: The Culture of Chance"
SOMArts, San Francisco, CA: Dec 2011 - Jan 2012.

2011
"Run-Off"
MacArthur B Arthur, Oakland, CA: October 2011.

"BAN6 Slideslam"
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA: September 2011.

"6th Annual Juried Exhibition"
Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA: August 2011.

"MFA Graduate Show"
Winery SF Building, San Francisco, CA: May 2011.

"Mondo Tondo"
Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA: May 2011.

"Chromophilia"
Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA: April 2011.

"(un)set"
Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA: March 2011.

2010
"Under 100 Show"
Treehouse Gallery, San Francisco, CA: Dec 4, 2010

"Traces of Systems"
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA: November 2010.

"Provisionally"
TreeHouse Gallery, San Francisco, CA: October-November 2010.

"Sketch"
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA: October 2010.

"Emergence"
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA: September 2010.

"Spare + Austere: Art Mirrors Time"
Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA: May 2010.
San Francisco City Hall: June-August 2010.

2009
"When we are old we will call our show 'Manifestation of Time' but for now we will call it 'Teenage Dirtbike'"
Blankspace Gallery, Oakland, CA: November 2009.

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AWARDS / NOMINATIONS

2012
SECA Award nominee, SFMOMA.

Tournesol Award Finalist, Headlands Center for the Arts.

Masterminds 2012 Award Finalist, SF Weekly.

2011
Tournesol Award Finalist, Headlands Center for the Arts.

2009-2011
Fine Arts Fellowship, San Francisco Art Institute.

2001
Marion-Doberman Traveling scholarship.

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RESIDENCIES

2014
Tech Shop, Artist in Residence, San Francisco, CA.

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PRESS / BLOGS / PUBLICATIONS

McQuaid, Cate. "Edgy Exhibition at Brown's Bell Gallery Cuts to the Heart" subsection: "Futility Versus Fortitude", The Boston Globe, March 7, 2016. WEB LINK

Hamill, Molly. "I Will Go On...", Artscope Magazine, March/April 2016. WEB LINK

Powers, Keith. "Double Play at Montserrat Galleries", Wicked Local, March/April 2016. WEB LINK

Broaddus, Will. "Montserrat College hosts 'I Will Go On' exhibit", The Salem News. January 28, 2016. WEB LINK

Combs, Seth. "The Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History opens at UCSD", San Diego City Beat. January 12, 2016. WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "ALTER SPACE", Art Business. May 9, 2015. WEB LINK

Zanardi, Bonny. "New Technology Meets Fine Arts at Peninsula Museum of Art Show", San Jose Mercury News. April 24, 2015. WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "Asterisk", Art Business. March 29, 2014. WEB LINK

De Vries, Heidi. "Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History Satellite Exhibition", Engineer's Daughter. Oct 14, 2013.  WEB LINK

Minto, Pietro. "Un Museo a Gitmo", Revista Studio. Oct 10, 2013.  WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "Roll Up Gallery and Public Works: CODAME Art + Tech.", Art Business. June 6, 2013.  WEB LINK

On the Horizon. 1st ed. San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Arts Commission, 2012. Print.

"Artist of the Week: Jon Kuzmich", GN8 Project, Feb. 20, 2012.  WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "Public Works", Art Business. Feb. 16, 2012.   WEB LINK

Perez, Ruby. "Meet Our Masterminds: Lisa Alonzo and Jon Kuzmich" SF Weekly. Feb. 15, 2012.  WEB LINK

Curiel, Jonathan. "Masterminds 2012: Honoring 10 Extraordinary Bay Area artists" SF Weekly. Feb. 8, 2012.   WEB LINK

Baker, Kenneth. "John Cage's influence explored in 'Get Lucky'" San Francisco Chronicle. Jan 7, 2012.  WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "SOMArts Gallery", Art Business. Jan. 6, 2012.  WEB LINK

"Ethos", MAAAASTER, Nov. 9, 2011.  WEB LINK

Haas, Maggie. "Run Off" Art Practical, Oct. 17, 2011.  WEB LINK

Haas, Maggie. "The Take-Away: Run Off at MacArthur B Arthur" Daily Serving, Oct. 17, 2011.  WEB LINK

Dalkey, Victoria. "Stars of Tomorrow Get to Shine in Juried Exhibit" The Sacramento Bee. Aug. 23, 2011. 

"Pinpoint Pointillism", tackad, June 2, 2011.  WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "SFAI MFA", Art Business, May 12, 2011. WEB LINK

Vernissage, MFA Graduate Exhibition Catalog, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA, 2011. Print.

MacKenzie, Meredith. "A Tree Grows in the Dogpatch" Dwell Magazine, April 11, 2011.  WEB LINK

Oggel, Hayley, "Art Madness", Infinity Turbo, Web. 14 May 2011.

"Jon Kuzmich", Imaging Energy, Dec. 2, 2010. WEB LINK

Bamberger, Alan. "Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi: June Quarterly Art Party",Art Business, June 18, 2010. WEB LINK

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COLLECTIONS

Guantanamo Bay Museum of Art and History, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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PRESENTATIONS

2009
"The Reconstituted World", The State of Painting in the 21st Century Conference, San Francisco Art Institute.

2016
Visiting Artist Lecture, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA.